Alakazam, you're in magic land!
by AcrossTheOcean
Summary: 1910 AD. Meet Hayner. An out-of-work factory grunt who finds himself stranded after a strange conversation. Force in Seifer. Apprentice Sorcerer who owes Larxene a favor and must somehow help Hayner find his destiny. Last installment of the Time Series.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Did you guys miss us? Well, we missed you! Okay, here it is. The very last installment of the 'Time' Series! Thank you so much for sticking with it! This can be read as a stand-alone story, but it is WAY more fun if you at least read, 'Get outta here, Greenhorn!'. *wink wink* Anyways, on with the first chapter!**

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><p><strong>Hayner - 1910<strong>

The world stopped spinning finally, and it was all I could do not to throw up. "Bloody hell," I mumbled, trying to blink the black spots out of my vision, feeling like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks. Rubbing the back of my head, I winced as I felt a rather large goose egg telling me I'd landed against something hard. I looked up from my spot on the ground and noticed a large brick building and as I sat up from where I'd been laying, I felt a disturbing sense of vertigo. Where in the hell was I?

The last thing I remember was a rather strange girl talking really fast at me, but then I couldn't really recall anything after that. Feeling slightly nauseous again as I stood up, I leaned against the rough brick building not able to stand on my own yet. There were no buildings this tall in my village and I figured that the girl had been bait and I'd been jumped and left for dead. I quickly checked my pockets and was puzzled to learn that I still had my wallet on me, filled with my last week's paycheck from the factory. Goddamn place had basically broken my arm twice and I wasn't about to sit there and take it. But there weren't a whole lot of options. I'd been thinking of heading into London to try and find work. It seemed like the only place that wouldn't kill me for just working. Then, that girl…

Wiping my eyes, I took a step forward, every movement of my feet getting easier as I felt my limbs and stomach settle. I came to the end of the alley I'd woken up in, and my eyes got wide as I stared out into the street that was suddenly in front of me.

"What in the bloody hell is this?" I choked out as I took in cars, carriages and people bustling about in front of me. It couldn't be real. I took a step forward in the mess and felt a body slam into mine, followed by a man with a strange accent telling me to get out of the way. It didn't take long for me to retreat back into the alley, shuddering as the weather around me was chilly and I tried to understand just where in the _hell_ I was.

I watched as a newsboy traveled along the sidewalk, shouting out headlines about crime and using names I wasn't familiar with to describe locations. And then one word stood out among all the others as he passed less than two meters in front of me.

"Two cents a copy! Get your Chicago Tribune here! Mayor Considers Reelection! Chicago Tribune! Two cents a copy!"

I felt the blood drain from my face and I stumbled back, slumping to the ground and leaning my head back against the same building that I had a feeling had given me my goose egg earlier and tried to come to terms with the fact that I was suddenly halfway around the world. It shouldn't, _couldn't _be possible!

"Bollocks," I said weakly, feeling as if this whole thing was somehow my fault, although I couldn't see how. Had I been kidnapped? Drugged? Was my memory still intact? I quickly named my parents, two older siblings and all my nieces and nephews. Nope. Still got my memory, so how in the hell was I here in Chicago,_ in America_, when I know I'd woken up in my hometown in the countryside of England that very morning?

I took a deep breath and realized that the first thing I needed to do was figure out exactly where in Chicago I was, and how much it was going to take to get back to England. Because I was going back. Er, somehow. Taking my courage in my hands again, I felt steadier and tried not to stand out as I fell into the flow of the foot traffic around me, marveling at how much bigger everything was here.

The buildings were so tall and crowded together, a bit like England, but they were newer. Everyone seemed to be in such a rush all of the time, the street covered in cars and carriages each one honking and trying to go faster. The women were as rude as the men sometimes, some even outright glared at me as they passed. For some reason, I avoided the police on their horses, each one looking like they'd hope to arrest me as I glanced their way.

Ducking into what appeared to be some sort of deli, I bumped into a large guy standing in front of the counter.

"Sorry." I mumbled and took a step back, realizing only too late exactly what I'd interrupted. Another guy was holding a revolver and pointing it at the trembling shop keeper while another man stood next to him. Dressed in dark suits with their hats low over their eyes, I took a second to marvele that they had the balls to do some sort of hold-up in broad bloody daylight with police on every street corner. The one I'd bumped into didn't give me a chance to get past that thought as he cracked his knuckles ominously and stepped into my personal space.

"Better get out of here, boy. If you know what's good for ya." Original. I caught the owner's eye and sighed, knowing that this probably wasn't going to end well if I left. Cracking my head first left and then right, I settled into a brawler's stance and smirked.

"How about you and your mates piss off instead?" God could only mess with me once every day, right? So, _somehow_ this should end peacefully.

I dodged the punch he immediately threw at me, ducking under it and stepping forward, adding my body's momentum behind my fist, thinking I was pretty much a dead man before my fist slammed into his gut. I was rewarded with a quiet crack and I wondered how many ribs I'd broken, right before his foot connected with my knee, dropping me to the floor as he fell backwards into the guy holding the gun.

BANG!

The gun went off as he fell forward into the counter and I grinned in satisfaction as the owner slammed a bottle against his head, knocking him out. There wasn't much the chance to enjoy the odds being better, as the other man suddenly jumped into the action. I was down on one knee and my eyes widened as I saw his boot come up and I managed to miss getting hit in my face, which he had been trying for, instead grunting as it slammed into my shoulder, throwing me backwards into the bench behind me.

"Bollocks!" I heard myself shout, my vision grey as my head connected with the wall. I scrambled to my feet, off balance, but launching myself at the bastard in front of me.

"Shit!" He groaned and folded to the ground as I rammed my knee into his crotch, not above fighting dirty when it was two against one. Again, I barely had time to gloat before the one guy who'd knocked me to the ground first had his arm around my throat and was basically lifting me by my neck. I choked and scraped, trying anything to get his arm off of my windpipe before I lost consciousness. I finally jerked my head back, hearing the satisfying crunch of a lucky nose break. Swearing and finally dropping me, I fell to my hands and knees, sputtering and coughing, trying to get my breath back. A useless gesture as a boot connected with my ribs and I blacked out as something slammed into the back of my head, knocking me to the ground.

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><p><strong>Seifer - Outer realm<strong>

"No!" Rai shouted, "The Merlin and Madame Minx duel as shown through the Disney movie 'The Sword in the Stone', wasn't fake, it truly happened. Disney just deleted the blood and made Merlin wear blue-"

"Which is an outrage," Fuu interrupted, giving the entire class a stern glance while sitting on the edge of her table, "We all know Merlin earned the color white over the hard years of training to become the mighty wizard he is now known as."

"White isn't a color." I reminded, leading Rai to snicker and Fuu to smack my upper arm.

"It is in our world, Seifer, and you know it." Fuu pointed out.

"Whatever!" Rai cut in, "They made Madame Minx wear pink! I swear, of all the scandalous things, that is probably the most horrid in the entire universe. She probably rolled over in her grave when they drew her wearing pink. She hated pink. Our history teacher says so."

I groaned, pushing off my desk. "And we all must remember that non magic folk have no idea that Madame Minx actually existed, so would you all shut up and stop arguing? There are shows on television at the moment that say Merlin was a teenager who befriended Arthur at a young age and another that says Merlin is a man in his early thirties having an intimate relationship with Igraine, Arthur's mother," I shook my head, knowing just as well as my classmates how ridiculous all that was. "I need to take a leak."

Rolling my eyes I stomped my way out of the classroom, wanting to punch HBO in their faces for their ridiculous depictions on vampires too while I was on the subject of idiotic television shows. Sex with a vampire? Those creatures didn't have blood running in their systems. How could they possibly get it up if an erection requires blood?

Nearly four years in this school and going on my fifth. A couple of more months, exams and then I was done and could scratch out the 'apprentice' part of my title 'apprentice sorcerer'. Luckily in this last year we could do most of our classes through correspondence as we were responsible enough to take on minor magic tasks.

Usually love potions, charms and performing magical unions. The occasional curse and other minor body modifications. The princess and the frog? That prince was definitely not the only man out there in the world turned frog in need of a kiss.

Making my way quickly through the hallway, I stepped into the boy's bathroom, pulling down my zipper as I walked over to the pissing pot, relieving myself and sighing contently as peeing was just awesome.

"Hello Seifer." Opening one eye, I looked to my right and then nodded at Larxene, returning my attention to my business.

"Late, no?" I pointed out, seeing as class had already happened.

"Nice dick."

"Thanks."

"Sure. So, you remember how you owe me?" She wanted me to pay her back now? Right before exams? Sighing, I tucked my cock back into my boxers, zipped up and then turned to give her my attention. "Aren't you going to wash your hands?" Rolling my eyes, I moved over to the sink, and then did wash my hands.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing major, shouldn't take long. I cursed someone, there was a side effect, I handled that, but I granted the side effect a favor, and that is to have his friend moved to America before the first world war starts." Drying my hands off on a towel, I frowned over at Larxene.

"The 1900's? What the hell are you doing in that time period? It's too far back, we aren't allowed to poke in that territory yet." I reminded.

She waved that off flippantly, "What's done is done. All I'm asking is that you go poof into 1910, fetch the boy out of Chicago and drop him off in Tennessee where he is supposed to be. There's a ranch there owned by a Leon and Cloud. Cloud is not my ancestor, but he was related to one of them, so there's a blood thing going on there and I know he'll take care of the kid."

Thinking it over, I knew I would be dabbling in a time period I wasn't exactly allowed to go in yet, but... "So I poof to 1910 Chicago, pick up the kid, drop him off in Tennessee at a Ranch where a Cloud and a Leon will take him off my hands?"

Smiling, she nodded. "Exactly that, sweetcheeks. Now, Imma need you to make a witch's promise as this boy means a lot to the side effect in the curse I placed upon another person. I know your temper and I know your lack of patience, so the promise is needed. It's important you get him to that ranch and I don't want you to have the option to bail somewhere in the middle of the trip."

"I would never do that."

"Sarcasm ahoy," She muttered.

Grinning, I then rolled my eyes, lifted my left palm and snapped my fingers with my right, letting the short knife fall into the palm. "I promise I won't bail on the kid." Cutting a quick cross into my left palm, I threw the short knife across the room, the thing vanishing into thin air along its flight. "Witch's promise." I declared, the blood from my wound seeping back into the cut, my words healing the skin, not leaving a scar, trace or any kind of mark. "You happy? Can I do this now real quick? Because I got some things to take care off later this afternoon."

She saluted me, "Right-o. Same for me. Enchanted dream catcher to deliver in Africa, love potion in Spain, a troll set loose somewhere on a Dutch beach that I need to catch..."

I narrowed my eyes on her. "Those are my tasks."

A sheepish look appeared on her face now. "Yeah... combining them with mine? I got plenty to do today, so I gotta run."

"Larxene! Why the hell are you taking on my tasks?"

"Because I'm not sure you'll be back on time!" She said back cheerily, snapping her fingers, poofing away and leaving a faint trace of lavender smell hanging in the boy's bathroom after her. Regretting the witch's promise already, I growled in annoyance, reaching up to pull the small crystal pendant from around my neck. Twisting it around my middle finger, I let the pendant hang down from it, hovering over my right palm that I'd stuck a few inches under the crystal.

I breathed deeply and tried to ease down my irritated nerves. Ordering the crystal to tell me, "Where the fuck is Larxene's lost boy located?" I waited for a moment, listening carefully to its clear hum and then rolled my eyes. "Yes I know he's in Chicago, but where?"

An irritated hum responded in return, clearly not liking my frustration, but it told me the exact location anyways. "Thank you," I muttered out, returning the pendant around my neck, snapping my fingers, and poofing off to nineteen fucking ten to find me a kid stuck somewhere in an ally that was placed in a neighborhood he shouldn't be in. If I was lucky, he might already be dead and I could return to my own damn business, like troll catching. I'd really been looking forward to that.

It was only a couple of seconds later that I breathed in the chilly air of Chicago 1910, the sky dark, moon out and the street at the end of the ally I was standing in busy off people, despite the late hour. Squinting my eyes in that direction, I checked out the fashion, registered, snapped my fingers and then grimaced down at the monkey suit I was now wearing.

They were much too fashionable back in this time period. I was going to miss my jeans and hoody. Tugging on the vest and wrinkling my nose down at the shoes, I turned in the opposite direction of the ally, my eyes blinking as I saw the boy I'd been looking for.

Grimacing at the state of him, I quickly ran my way to him, crouching down and scanning him over. Shit. When I said I wanted him dead I hadn't actually been serious. Quickly pressing my fingertips against his throat to find a pulse, I sighed in relief as I found one, my facial expression permanently engraved into the grimace as the wounds, bruises and cuts he was sporting must be real painful.

Actually, I was kind of surprised he was still breathing. Scratching my head, I figured I could poof him out of here, but humans weren't really used to that kind of travel and it messed with their systems some. Nothing major, but certainly not something this kid could handle right now. I'm pretty sure it would kill him.

I had about four poofs left for the following two weeks, two transportation spells and then the rest of my traveling had to be done by shape shifting or traveling illegally which although not against school rules, was sort of frowned upon as we didn't want to poke human laws, possibly giving them reason to fault us in possible future debates when magical society decided to out themselves to the universe. I sincerely hoped I was long dead by then, because that was a war that made me tired just trying to think about it.

Pursing my lips, I carefully slid my arms underneath his neck and his knees, lifting him off the ground and up into my arms. "Dead weight, ugh..." I grumbled, holding him closer to me so I was sure he wouldn't drop out of my arms.

Freeing my fingers somewhat under his knees, I managed to snap my fingers with a bit of difficulty, glad the map appeared before my face. "Light up the buildings that contain safe witch covens." The map did so instantly. "Which one is closest?" I asked. One building remained lit on the map and I nodded in thanks, the map disappearing back in the air with a puff of smoke. The nearest witch coven appeared to be just about a block from here. Sighing at the situation I found myself to be in, I shifted him so I was holding him securely before starting to make my way out of the ally, into the street and quickly rushed my way to safe harbor in the coven closest by.

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><p><strong>Hayner<strong>

I slowly regained consciousness, amazingly without pain, and I blinked one eye open, squinting at the light hanging from the ceiling. What happened? Oh yeah...those arseholes had gotten in a few lucky hits or something. Slowly opening my other eye, my vision still a bit blurry, I noticed that I was lying in a bed against a stone wall in a small room, plants hanging and growing all around me.

There was a large window at the foot of my bed and it was dark outside and I could see the moon. It reminded me of an indoor garden that many rich people had, but these plants did not look like they were for decoration or to really eat either. A large bush with bright purple flowers hovered about a half meter from my head and I could smell a faint earthy aroma from it. Feeling a little faint, I slowly sat up and tried to access my injuries.

"What the..." My fingers gingerly tested my side where I'd gotten kicked and I felt no pain. Touching the back of my head, I felt no bump. How long had I been out? Glancing down at my chest, I did notice a faint bruising color where I'd been kicked, but there was no pain to go along with it. I blinked. Where were my clothes? Pushing the blankets away for a moment, I checked. Yup. No pants. "Bugger." I muttered and pulled the blanket back up to cover me. Again, where the hell was I?

"Hello? Is there anybody here? Where the hell are my clothes?" I was looking towards the door on the wall opposite the window, resolving that if there was no answer, I'd just have to wrap the blanket around me and run.

"If you intend on running away, at least find clothes before getting out of the building. Walking in the streets of Chicago with only a blanket to cover up your willy, will probably lead to another beating," Came a voice first before a body went along with it, appearing in the doorframe.

Scowling, I made sure I was covered, squinting as I tried to see him better. My vision seemed slightly blurry still for some reason. "Well if you have them, give them back! Where the hell am I? Who the bloody hell are you? How long have I been here?"

I heard fingers snap and then, "There. You're dressed again. I only removed them so I could take care of your wounds better. You're in the witch's coven called 'Laluna', it's a safe harbor. I brought you here when I located you in an ally in a rather poor state. I am Seifer, a sorcerer, colleague to Larxene, the witch who somehow had you land in Chicago."

I looked down and saw that I was indeed dressed and I sighed, rubbing my eyes so I could get a better look at him. Tall, probably a few centimeters taller than me, with white blonde hair. Icy blue eyes seemed to see right through me, and I immediately wondered about the scar on his face. Slanted down between his eyes and across the bridge of his nose, I figured he was lucky it hadn't blinded him.

"Larxene? She was the one who did this?" The name sort of rang a bell...

"Oh good, you're not unfamiliar to witchcraft then." He seemed relieved by this. "And yeah, Larxene is part of who did this, from your thoughts I can discern it wasn't her fault entirely since you didn't repeat the spell exactly as she wanted you too." He stepped closer to the bed, reaching out with a hand and offering me a drink of which the liquid was pink. "That'll help refasten the loose tooth in the bottom back row."

Nodding, and a bit wary as he could read my thoughts, I took the drink and swallowed it down, grimacing as the taste was quite sweet, like pure sugar. Wincing as I felt my teeth realign, I quickly thought of only a blank wall, imagining that he could not see past that into my brain. I didn't trust him, or that Larxene person. Handing back the cup, I threw off the blanket and set my feet on the ground.

"Why the hell did she want to take me to Tennessee in the first place? I didn't want to go there."

"I can only catch certain part of your thoughts and from there I can pretty much put together what it is you are thinking. Spend enough time with me and you'll automatically learn how to stop me from getting inside your head." He took the cup, putting it on the side table beside the bed. "If it makes you feel better, your thoughts really don't interest me. And she wanted you in Tennessee for your own safety. I am going to bring you there and since I made a witch's promise, I don't have a choice but to make that happen, so I'm afraid you can't run away." He pursed his lips, "Not until I get you there anyway, if you wanna run after I dropped you off at the ranch, then that's your business."

"Bugger that," I scowled and got to my feet, only feeling slightly achy, as though I'd been sleeping for longer than I should have. "You can piss off now, thanks. I don't need some sorcerer mucking about in my life." Taking a step forward, I pushed past him, intent on leaving and never looking back. "And you can tell 'Larxene' that I still don't see why I have to go to bloody Tennessee! Safe, my arse!"

"Alright," He agreed easily. "There was a side effect to the spell she cast on you though. Since you changed the words, things didn't go as planned. You attract trouble. Literally. So I suggest you be careful." He then moved over to the bed, starting to make it up and cleaning the pots and plants randomly placed onto the side table. "Since I'm bound to my witch's promise, Imma have to be patient and sit here until you agree to come with me. So until then."

"I'll keep that in mind, Seifer." I called back over my shoulder. Attract trouble, my arse. What a stupid way to try and get me to follow him. I wasn't going to fall for that; it didn't make sense to me. Why were they trying to keep me safe? And what were they trying to keep me safe from? Larxene hadn't answered my questions when I'd asked, which of course only made me more annoyed, thus prompting my detour to Chicago. Not that I'd really wanted to be here, but it was better than just following along like a dog, obediently sitting when told to sit.

Making my way outside of the weird house or coven thing, I checked my pockets and smiled. At least he hadn't robbed me after getting me naked.

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><p><strong>A couple of hours later<strong>

"Bloody _fucking _hell!" I wiped the blood from my mouth, spitting out the excess onto the sidewalk and I stomped my way back to that stupid damn building that I was sure I'd seen the last of. This was ridiculous. I'd been sure he was lying or trying to trick me when he's said something stupid about attracting trouble. Blowing him off, I'd gone my way hoping to grab a quick drink before finding a place to sleep for the night.

The first time some random guy had picked a fight and I'd knocked him down, I'd written it off to the fact that I'd been rather pushy in asking for a drink. The second guy, he was the first guy's friend and he'd gotten in a lucky punch against my face, giving me what was probably a rather spectacular shiner before I'd knocked him down. I'd left that place, crossing the street and barely dodging a speeding carriage, which then splashed mud all over my witch-cleaned clothes.

The following four fights had been just as ridiculous and I'd tried avoiding people in hopes that it would alleviate the issue. Nope. I'd stumbled down a dark alley and, of course, had interrupted another robbery in progress and while I'd managed to avoid getting punched by that guy, the poor chap I'd saved had been so nervous and so drunk that he'd thrown up all over my pants. At that point, I was starting to believe that maybe Seifer wasn't blowing smoke. But I wanted some bloody answers. Finally spotting the street I needed, I glared at the front door, closing the distance and trying not to attract any attention. Glancing around quickly, I grimaced at the smell of my clothes and the blood covering everything. Whatever.

He could snap his bloody fingers and fix everything once I was inside. Pushing the door open, I called, "Seifer? Are you in here, you stupid arse?"

I blinked as I was bitch slapped across the face. "Don't you dare call Master Almasy a stupid arse! He has knowledge from the future! He could teach you many a thing!" A chambermaid spat at me, sniffing up her nose and then sassily marching her arse back deeper into the building.

"Bugger!" I yelped, rubbing my cheek and glaring at her back as I followed her inside. Stupid Seifer and his wench. Not only was he cursing me, he was gonna have his cheap whore slap me around. I hope he got stuck in some stupid demon dimension the next time he poofed, or whatever.

"Demon dimensions are actually quite nice. Very pleasant creatures, not at all what they are made out to be," I swiveled my head to the left, glaring at Seifer. "Easy there. I didn't curse you and neither is she my wench, she was just affected by the side effect I told you about. Again, I want to point out, had you repeated Larxene's words exactly, you wouldn't have gotten the trouble attracting side effect."

He lifted a finger before I could speak, "And. You could have just NOT repeated her words at all if you didn't want to go anywhere, yet you did, didn't you? So." His jaw was locked and he did not look happy. "Stop blaming me for every little thing that has gone wrong today because it is not my fault, you get me, you annoying pain in the fucking backside?"

Feeling my blood boil, I clenched my fists so I wouldn't give into the desire to hit him. "So, get rid of the side effects already! Wave your magic wand or sprinkle your fairy dust and let me go!"

"You think it's that easy? By going out today you only made it more complicated. Don't you dare tell me I shouldn't have let you gone out. Would you have let me stop you? No you wouldn't have, I would have ended up spitting out teeth, so shut your trap and follow me upstairs so we can stop making these nice customers severely uncomfortable. Gods!" He threw his hands up in the air, clearly fuming as whirled around and stomped off to the stairs that led back to the room I'd woken up in earlier this morning.

'You are such an arse.' I thought as hard as I could, figuring he was listening to me as he stomped away. Either way, I wanted to know what was going on. Why I needed to be safe and who was the one wanting to keep me safe. I'd never even met Larxene before, so was it her idea or was someone paying her. Leading me into the back room, I glanced at the bed and again at the flower hovering above it. That smell was still lingering.

"Stop calling me that or I may just start believing you are fixating on my ass and then I may start thinking you have an interest in it," he said as he sat down onto the bed, waving his hand in the air and that same movement led the door to slam shut all by itself. "If you have questions, I'm allowing you to ask me them now. One by one please."

Feeling my face heat up at that thought, I quickly spat out my first question, hoping he wasn't listening to my thoughts, only my words. "Why are you guys trying to keep me safe?" That was the big one. Why?

He frowned. "I don't actually know. Larxene didn't take the time to explain." I opened my mouth to protest but he slapped a hand over my lips. "Ah ah! Gods your temper is worse than mine. I'll contact her, just give me a minute." Grumbling he fished a bag from underneath the bed and then started digging through it until he found what he was looking for. It was a... Well, I didn't know.

Pressing the rectangular shaped item to his ear, he waited a moment. "Larxene? Why does Hayner need to be kept safe?" He nodded, humming and muttering an 'yes, okay' in response before dropping the item over his shoulder onto the bed. He turned to look at me. "Do you have anything to say before I launch myself into the explanation?"

My fingers grasped at his wrist and I wrenched my face away from his hand. "Don't touch me like that," I snapped, my face was still burning and I glared at him in what I hope was a threatening way. Nobody was allowed to touch me like that. Wiping my sleeve across my face, I nodded. "Go ahead."

"Oh, don't be such a baby," he scoffed, "Sora, a friend of yours apparently, is the one who asked Larxene to keep you safe from a world war that is to break out in 1914. Although America will not be unaffected, it won't be as touched as England will. This Sora person knew you'd try and be a hero, and he wanted to prevent your death as he was rather certain you'd get yourself killed." From his facial expression I could tell he thought Sora was right about the 'me getting myself killed' department.

I blinked. "Sora? Sora Kinsley? He did that for me?" My mind wandered to the friend I'd had in my hometown. One of my _only_ friends and while I'd been away working in the factory, he'd been run out of town for, er, something. Nobody had really told me why, but I had a pretty good idea. Licking my lips, I looked at Seifer and asked, "But why Tennessee? And where is Sora?"

"Larxene knew only of two people who would be willing to take you in and take care of you, get you settled, without issue whatsoever. They happen to be in Tennessee; so that's why Tennessee. As for Sora? He's in 2011. Larxene cursed a certain Reno by flinging him back into time, 1910 to be exact and as a side effect to the curse, Sora Kinsley got flung into the future, 2011. After Reno broke the curse, both he and Sora decided to both remain in the time periods they landed in." Seifer shrugged as if these were the most normal topic conversations to be talking about. Probably was normal for him.

"Would I have really died?" I whispered out, afraid of what he might answer.

He shook his head. "Nothing is written in stone, so I don't know the answer to this. You could have, like many did during that war." Sitting up he reached for the plants hanging above the bed, plucking off some leaves from it. "I'm going to apply these to the bruising around your eye." He warned before pressing the leaves against my skin gently. "Any more questions?" He murmured, his eyes focused on the bruising.

I tried not to flinch away, not used to having anyone that close to me for any reason. "So, who am I supposed to go to in Tennessee? And when I get there, the little side effects thing is gone forever, right?" Murmuring and trying not to stare at him, I tucked my hands into my pockets.

His other hand grasped my chin carefully, keeping my face still as he continued to press the leaves around my eye. "I'll make sure the side effect is long gone before we get there. Leon and Cloud are the names of the people who will offer you a place to stay. Cowboys. They own a ranch. One is a pianist and the other is a marshal." His eyes focused onto mine for a moment, looking at me curiously. "They're open minded." His fingers slipped from my chin and he pulled away with his other hand as well. "I guess I'm sorry for touching you. But it shouldn't hurt anymore now, try it."

"Open minded?" I said cautiously, trying very hard not to think of anything specifically. Flowers, yes, the pain was no longer there and I was counting the petals on the other flowers that were on the plant.

He nodded, the leaf resting in the center of his palm and he was staring intently at it, holding his hand out before him. "They like men. They're a couple." He said absently, his eyes flashing a bright blue right before the leaf in his palm started growing... roots? I blinked as the leaf turned into a flower of its own, nestled in Seifer's hand. "Get me a pot."

"Um, yeah." Quickly looking around, I saw some at the foot of the bed and moved to grab one. Already half full of dirt, I walked back and stared at the growing plant in Seifer's hand. My eyes were entranced and I didn't even blink for fear of missing something else that he might do. Then his words slowly penetrated my brain. "They're a couple? Really?"

He chuckled softly, placing the plant gently into the pot I was holding. "Yeah." Tucking some dirt over the roots, he then took the pot from my hands, but didn't move it away completely. "Take a leaf between your fingers, rub it gently and thank nature for allowing it to heal you. I know it sounds ridiculous, just do it, I wanna see if this is going to work." His voice was thoughtful, but almost hesitant as though he wasn't sure I would actually do what he said.

Quirking my eyebrow, I did as he asked, reaching down and using my thumb and forefinger to touch a leaf and rub it gently. "Thank you." I whispered, blushing as I felt the smoothness of the leaf between my fingers. I gasped in shock as the buds that had been closed only a moment before, opened right before my eyes, the colors bright and mesmerizing as each petal stretched to its fullest.

"Bloody hell," I choked out, shaking in shock and feeling the blood drain from my face.

Seifer grunted. "I knew it. You reek of magic." Placing the pot onto the side table, he looked at me. "Now I'm not only bound by witch's promise, but you've become my 'bloody' apprentice until I can find a way to kick you into magic school."

Stepping back at his words, my eyes frantically darted around the room in fear. "What? Wait, I'm what? A sorcerer?" This was not possible and now would be an excellent time to wake up from this dream.

"Not yet." Seifer clipped out, pushing me back on the bed. "It's a title you earn. Right now you only have a connection to magic and if you want it, then I can teach you how to use this connection for healing purpose. Once you master that, you can go further into other types. It's up to you, no one is forcing you." He shrugged, "If you don't want me to teach you and ignore the connection? You can just as easily do that."

Shaking my head, I tried to organize my thoughts, still trying to actually believe his words. Well, if I did have a connection, then he would know right? And if that connection was real, I should probably do something with it, right? Looking at him, I nodded slowly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but yeah. Teach me." I stood up and stuck my hand out offering to shake on it.

He did not look pleased. "Yes, alright." Reluctant much? He placed his hand into mine though, shaking it. "But don't toy with the magic, okay? It's not a game. You can't start growing trees willy-nilly. I know they give us oxygen, but making them pop up randomly anywhere raises questions and much like 'liking men', it's not something people dance a happy dance for. You're more likely to get beaten and then get dragged off to a mental institution."

Rolling my eyes, I dropped his hand. "Fine, whatever you say, master."

"Don't call me master." He clipped out. "It has me picturing you in leather clothing and then me bending you over to pound and spank you hard." Taking the pot from the side table, he pushed it into my hands. "It's yours now. Take care of it. We still have to travel to Tennessee even if you'll most likely come back with me to the magic school once we get there. A witch's promise can't be broken, and I specifically stated I'd bring you to Tennessee, so Tennessee it shall be." Giving me a curt nod, he then marched out of the bedroom. "Food! Come on! I can tell you're hungry!"

"Leather clothing?" I squeaked, glad that he couldn't see the blush and shock that was on my face. Patting my chest and trying to restart my heart, I licked my lips and spun around to follow.

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><p><strong>Seifer - the following day<strong>

Looking over my shoulder quickly to see if Hayner was keeping up, I rolled my eyes and shook my head in amusement as he was walking after me fast, potted plant in his hands, big wide eyes darting all over the place as Chicago was most likely quite a bit bigger than his small village in England.

He had magic. Of course he did. This trip couldn't have been a simple pick up and drop off, no, it had to become complicated. And because of the stupid witch's promise, we were now forced to travel all the way to Tennessee before being able to poof our 'arses' back to the magic realm. I only had one poof left, having used one of the remaining two for the following two weeks to get Hayner two of the first books I'd gotten when I'd started out with sorcery, hoping to keep him occupied as he seemed very energetic and I was afraid I wouldn't always have the energy to keep him entertained by myself.

I'd used the crystal this morning to tell me where we had to head out first to make our way to Tennessee, since this time period didn't offer GPS. Nashville would be our first go-to point, it being about a 2-3 day train ride to get there. Really, because I had all the time in the world and definitely enjoyed babysitting noob sorcerers? I didn't owe Larxene anymore, the witch owed me.

Slowing my pace as I walked up towards the train stations entrance, I pondered over how I would get us train tickets without having any money on me. "Did Larxene happen to give you some money?" I asked Hayner, stopping in my tracks, waiting for him before opening the large door and gesturing for him to step inside the station.

"Um, well. I think there is some in my wallet. I checked after you gave me back my clothes." Shoving his plant into my hands, he dug around his clothes and came up with a small brown wallet. Grabbing the plant back as though he hated the idea of me holding it, he shoved the small leather square into my hands. "Everything I've got is in there." He smiled softly down at the plant, holding it close to his chest.

God, he was ridiculously cute. Another thing I was disliking very much about him right now. "Come on, silly creature." I muttered, nudging him to start walking again as I scanned the inside of his wallet. That wasn't going to be enough... "Alright, what I'm about to do isn't something that is technically right. We're allowed to use it only if we can't find any other way around it." I stated clearly before walking up to the lobby, pushing the money towards the clerk behind the counter. "Two tickets to Nashville, please." I muttered out, stepping aside so Hayner could stand beside me.

The guy looked at the money and frowned. "But Sir, you've not given enou-"

Waving my hand gently before his face, I smirked as his eyes glazed, "Yes. It's more than enough." I assured, glad the guy didn't question it and started getting us those tickets. Peeking at Hayner, I tried to gauge his reaction. "If you were living in 2011 I'd tell you that was very Jedi-mind-trick of me and you'd laugh and this would be very funny."

He tilted his head to the side and sent me a look as though I had two heads. "You are very strange. Are all of your kind this strange?" Shaking his head, he adjusted his hand around his plant pot. "I suppose that I'll learn about Jedi-mind-tricks in the future, so I'll hold onto my laugh for now."

"Yes, you do that. You don't want to risk getting sucked into the dark side." I smiled at the clerk, taking the tickets and then nodded at Hayner for him to follow me to the right platform. I settled in a quick pace and luckily the platform wasn't that far off and even better, the train was already there, letting passengers get inside.

Looking over my shoulder, I didn't agree with the pace Hayner was walking at, so I turned around, grabbed his hand, whirled back around and then dragged him along with me, practically running towards the train. Getting out of Chicago is what I wanted. Being on the train would be tediously long, but at least we'd be going somewhere. I let go of his hand when he started pulling it out, shrugging and stepping up into the train, scanning my eyes over the area until I found a spot that pleased me. Sighing in content, I walked over to it, sat my ass down and sunk back into the comfortable seat.

'Why did he grab my hand and run?' Hayner's voice buzzed into my mind, informing me I'd accidentally tapped into his thoughts. 'I wasn't going any slower than he was. Bloody hell, makes me think of the spanking he spoke about. Stop it, Hayner. Can't think about things like that. He's my master now.' Glancing over in surprise, I saw Hayner sit across from me and simply stare outside the window watching the hustle and bustle of people in the station.

Pursing my lips, I tried to figure out a way to mention just one part of that thought without poking the other half. "You're categorized in the working station, right?" I asked. "I'm not sure how it works," Lies. I did, but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable and let him know I'd heard the first part of his thought in any way. "Since the time I was born in we don't have stations. We're all relatively equal."

Although I knew about the station system in this time period, I'd forgotten that Hayner might see me as his master. I'd just thought he'd been joking when he'd mentioned it last time. But he seemed pretty serious when he'd thought it just now. I needed to let him know I wasn't his master and that we were at the same level.

His eyes narrowed as his face turned red again. "Are you listening to my thoughts? Bugger off." 'That's exactly what I don't need. Him poking me about my tastes. Think of something else.' Sighing in defeat, he closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm working class. And it doesn't matter about your birth station. You are obviously a master in your craft."

"I don't judge." I told him honestly, hoping that might appease his mind some on my having heard certain parts. "As for being a master in my craft. I am mastering the craft, but haven't yet mastered it completely. I'm in my last year, but still have to go through the exams before I'll be able to scratch the 'apprentice' from my 'apprentice sorcerer' title."

Pointing at the plant he was still clutching, I gave him a tentative smile. "I can allow myself to teach you about healing magics because that is something I have mastered. But I'm not a full sorcerer yet. Just see me as a friend who's willing to share knowledge on something." I offered flippantly, not comfortable with the whole 'master' idea.

"You mean you aren't a master sorcerer? What about Larxene? Is she a master?" His voice was shocked at that and he was giving me a look of disbelief. 'Is that why I'm cursed? Holy hell.'

"Larxene is an apprentice like I am, and neither I nor she cursed you. You pulled that stunt all by yourself by saying 'Chicago' instead of 'Tennessee'..." I growled out, hoping he'd finally get that and engrave it into his mind.

"Er, sorry." Shutting his mouth with a snap, and leaning back into his seat, he sighed. 'I can't afford to have him mad at me.' There was a pause and then a quiet thought, so quiet I almost didn't hear it. 'I really don't _want_ him mad at me.' And then finally, silence. "I just didn't like being pushed around, alright? And hey, at least now I know I have magic." He grinned.

"Yes, very exciting." I mumbled, looking around to see if anyone was near and when the coast was clear I snapped my fingers, grinning back as the two heavy books thudded down onto the small table between our seats, the dust flying off them. "Happy learning."

'Bugger. How do I tell him I can't read? He'll think I'm stupid, and then what?' His thoughts were back, loudly bouncing around my skull. "Um, yeah. Sure. I'll start right away." His voice was falsely cheerful and he reached out to gently open the top book, licking his lips nervously.

Sighing heavily, I sat up and smacked my palm on top of the book. "Wait. What am I thinking? You can't read this." Pulling the book out from under his nose, I settled it onto my lap. "It's Latin. We learn it first year at magic school, sorry about that. Err, okay, lemme see..." Detaching my eyes from his face I looked down at the book, pretending to be translating.

"I can't read anyways." Soft brown eyes met mine as I looked up in surprise at his words. Shrugging his shoulders, he went back to looking out the window. "I'm hoping you don't think me stupid, but I bet that you'd be able to figure the truth out with a simple listening in on my thoughts." Sighing, he shook his head. "I guess I'll just have to be completely honest. _All_ the time. Bollocks."

Closing the book, I sneezed when the dust hit my nostrils. Grimacing, I wrinkled my nose and set the thing back down on the table. "Reading ones thoughts is basic magic also. It's hard to tap into though, but I'm willing to let you try it out on me so we're somewhat even. The main thing about it is, you shouldn't be thinking yourself. If your thoughts are occupied, there's no space for someone else's to come in. So, try to clear you mind as best you can and then carefully try to figure out what I'm thinking from my facial expressions. After that you should get the occasional word or feeling."

I started singing the alphabet song in my head over and over again, letting him stare at me to his heart's content, hoping he'd get a small hit.

"Okay!" Enthusiastically leaning forward and setting his plant next to him on the seat, he took a deep breath and stared at me. After a couple of minutes, he tilted his head to the side, scrunching up his nose and blinked. "Are you singing something? Wait...Q? What?"

I grinned, "The alphabet song. Nice going. If you managed this quickly, you probably tapped into thoughts before without really realizing it. Now try and get a whole sentence." Having fun, I sat up and stared right back at him, not caring what he may hear as I let my eyes take him in appreciatively. That may help him get less nervous around me when it came to his 'tastes' as he so delicately put it.

His forehead wrinkled and once again, his face turned a little red. Licking his lips, he seem to concentrate even harder. "Um, did you just think something about my...ass? Hey!" Pulling his arms up, he covered his chest, shaking his head in disbelief. "No! No, you may not do that with your mouth! Seifer!" Glancing around at the other passengers, who were ignoring us, he turned back to glare at me. "Hey. Are you thinking that stuff on purpose? Or are you just testing me?"

I snickered. "I'm telling you that I like men, figured that may make you more comfortable on the whole 'having different tastes' thing. Or you know, the spanking, pounding and leather." He lifted the plant, ready to throw it at my head. "Be nice!" I laughed. "He's your friend, put him down."

His face completely red by now, he sat back, hugging the plant protectively against his chest, he shook his head. "You're serious? You are of that persuasion?" 'Bloody hell. This is too perfect, right?'

"I love me some ass." I agreed, trying to keep my voice level as I wasn't quite sure how to react to his thought. Perfect? I suppose viewing over the situation we found ourselves in, he wasn't all that wrong thinking of it like that. But less than an hour ago I'd thought him the royal pain in my backside. A cute one, granted, but a pain. Yet, I did find it strangely endearing he couldn't read, and in a very out of character move for me, I'd actually pretended not to hear that thought and faked the books being Latin so he could take his time to tell me about the whole not reading thing. He was also sorta funny...

I cleared my throat as a uniformed man walked by and I handed him the tickets so he could check our seats. Giving me a nod, I wished him a fine day and then continued to frown out of the train window, staring at the landscape rushing by.

'So, can you hear my thoughts still? Can we talk like this?' Glancing at him, I could tell he was concentrating on sending me those thoughts.

I rolled my eyes, smirking. 'Yeah, I can hear you.' I threw at his forehead. 'It's the whole point of us being able to read thoughts in the first place; monitoring what the humans think and making sure they don't figure out our secret and being able to talk about magic with one another while them not hearing.' He probably didn't catch everything of it, more a version of it as if passing on a static radio channel.

'Good. Because I'm hungry. What's for dinner?' Smirking at me for just a second, he went back to holding the plant pot on his lap and smiling as he stared out the window as the train moved down the track.

'You.' When his cheeks turned red again, I snickered, settling comfortably into the chair. 'Nap first and then I'll find us something to eat.' I tuned him out, it being hard as he was a loud thinker, but I didn't mind so much as he was just enjoying the scenery and his previously angry mind was a lot calmer now, just excited with the new things he'd learned and had to absorb. It was a warm feeling he managed to push back into me, making it easy for me to fall asleep peacefully.

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><p><strong>AN: Next chapter will be up in about a week:D Reviews make us very happy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alice: I almost forgot to upload today! *facepalm* Thank goodness someone left me a review on it, cause that kickstarted my lazy Saturday juices:D Everyone send warm fuzzy feelings to my co-author Reyaa, who is fighting a nasty cold, but still has to work *HUGS* Miss you!**

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><p><strong>Hayner<strong>

I came awake all of a sudden when I felt the world lurch and I somehow smacked my head against something solid. That was getting really old. Blinking my eyes open, I looked around and saw that I was on a train and the solid thing I'd slammed into was the window. Growling at it, I quickly looked in the seat next to me and sighed in relief as my plant was still safely sitting there, leaves and flower still standing tall.

I felt a small smile threaten to break free and I gently reached out to stroke the leaves, still in awe that I'd helped it bloom. Everything that had happened in the past few days still seemed like a dream. The sudden arrival in Chicago, the bad luck curse, and finally the magic that Seifer had introduced me to.

Somehow, as amazing as it was, I felt like I'd been waiting my whole life for it. And now that it was finally here, I could fulfill my destiny of sorts. Snorting quietly, I shook my head. Destiny?Not likely. I'd simply do what I needed to do to master this magic and once I knew enough, I'd pretty much just do whatever I wanted for the rest of my life. As I thought that, I felt a needle of uncertainty and annoyance break my concentration.

Glancing at the plant I was still touching, I rolled my eyes. "Hey, I helped you bloom. Can't I just imagine being selfish for a bit? I'm sure I'll fall in line and be a good little sorcerer, but just for a moment, can I have a childish dream?" Feeling like a child all of a sudden, I pulled my hand back and pouted.

Suddenly remembering that I wasn't alone, I glanced across to where Seifer was still sleeping. His chin was slumped forward, so all I could really see was his head. Moving around the small table between us, I sat down next to him. I wanted to study him before he woke up and read my mind. Breathing deep, I let myself relax and just let the thoughts pop into my head.

Arrogant, bossy, pushy, and confident. A lot of things I wasn't and some that I wish I was. Chuckling, I nodded. Yeah, he was alright for now, but I figured that he'd stick around to fulfill that oath or whatever and then he'd drop me off in the other realm first chance he got. I guess that was normal though. It's not like he was a real master, after all.

Biting my lip, I thought about what he'd told me earlier. He liked men. And he's basically poked me and read my mind about what I thought were my unusual tastes. I wonder how much he knew about it...I hardly knew anything.

Reaching over, I poked his chest. "Seifer? Hey, wake up. I'm hungry."

"You really have no fear if you dare wake a sorcerer by poking them," He grumbled out, turning so his back was facing me now. "Two more minutes. Figure out what you want to eat in that time."

"I want a sandwich. Beef with a bit of cheese and onion. Water will be fine to drink." Unable to resist poking him one last time, I held back the laugh that threatened to escape. I'm sure he could fry me in hot oil, but I felt it my duty to pester him until he fed me. Sitting back up and standing so he could glare down at me, he gestured for me to shuffle out of my seat.

"I honestly don't know what I did wrong to have to put up with all this crap. Babysitter extraordinaire..." He muttered, nudging me out of the seat and pushing me towards the next train wagon. "Ah, shit... We don't have money."

I glared, not even going to put up with the idea of no food. "Hey. You said it. Babysitter extraordinaire. You better think of something." Crossing my arms, I tried to look threatening or at the very least angry. And I was, but I was so hungry that I almost didn't have the energy to do anything beyond looking angry.

Rubbing his face, he groaned loudly, leading the passenger sitting beside us to look up with a strange look on their face, but Seifer just gave them a look with narrowed eyes. "Alright, come on. Grab your things. These seats aren't comfortable anyways. I warn you though, I'll probably knock out cold for about an hour after I'm done." He grabbed his two books, waiting for me to get my plant and then led the way out of this wagon, to the next and he seemed determined to find the very end of the train as we walked through the third wagon and onto the fourth.

"Where are we going? Do you even know? You aren't going to make me jump from a moving train are you?" Clutching my poor plant to my chest again, I quickly breathed in the scent of the flower, letting it try and calm my nerves.

"I'm trying to find a wagon where people won't come in during the trip. Possibly luggage, worse-case scenario, the stables." He vaguely explained, marching through the fifth wagon. "And I'm not allowed to harm you in any way, part of the witch's promise." A pause. "Unfortunately."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you always this grumpy? Or is it just for me that you rolled out your 'charming' face?" Not able to let his comments go, I continued, "And it's not like I haven't been harmed enough on this trip. What's one more arsehole smashing my face in?"

"Don't tempt me," He growled out, "I am grumpy when I get woken up with whiny demands, fucking deal with it!" The passengers in the sixth wagon were shocked by his exclamation, but we were already in the seventh before they could demand Seifer for an apology. "Okay, one more passenger wagon and then we come into the train department where passengers aren't supposed to go." He said this all the while stepping into...Right, luggage.

"Please dump me on the bed once it gets here." He instructed, reaching up to tug the pendant from around his neck, letting the crystal hang from his middle finger. "If you get bored at any given moment in the following hour, you can try and kick me out of unconsciousness by speaking in thoughts." Looking over his shoulder, he gave me a nod and then concentrated on the crystal.

There was a silent hum, not from Seifer and it took me a moment to realize it came from the crystal that was now starting to glow softly. Watching him intently, I tried to figure out what he was up too but before I could even try getting close to an idea, the crystal shone brilliantly and when it dimmed, Seifer groaned before his body collapsed down to the floor with a heavy thud.

Eyes widening, I felt frantic, wanting to see if Seifer was alright, but I didn't have the time to step closer as the inside of the wagon suddenly started to... shift? The shape of the wagon remained the same, but the luggage sort of faded away, leaving space for furniture to pop up randomly out of nowhere from the floor.

A large bed crashed down from the ceiling on one side and a dining table with food on the other side pushed its way out of the wall. The wagon was shaking, but I didn't think anyone else in the train felt it as there was no proof of someone hearing in the other wagon. When the shaking stopped, I was suddenly standing in a wagon that very much looked like a small hotel room. Beef, onion and cheese sandwich included.

"Well, thanks." I said to Seifer's unconscious body and I set my plant on the table before walking over to him. Crossing my arms as I looked down at him, I figured I'd better get him up on the bed and I sure hope it didn't disappear all of a sudden. Bending down, I pulled his left arm over my shoulder and held tight as I pushed up with my knees, grunting under the dead weight.

Gripping the back of his pants with one hand, I slowly dragged him forwards and then sighed as I dropped him unceremoniously onto the bed. Creaking with the sudden weight, the bed sagged as he landed, the quilt bunching up under him. I quickly pushed his feet up, and even wrestled the blanket so that it covered him before turning and feeling my stomach growl at the sight of the sandwiches. It seemed like a lot of work for some food. I wonder why he didn't just change something else into money instead.

Quickly finishing my sandwich, I washed it down with the jug of water that was waiting for me on the table. The room was very bare and I didn't see anything that might hold my attention now that I felt rested from the nap and full from the sandwich. And so now I was bored. Petting my plant again, I poured some water into the pot until I felt the urge to stop. Setting the jug back on the table, I decided that maybe Seifer would like to wake up now.

I pulled the chair over to the side of the bed and waved my hand in front of his face before sitting down. Huh, no response. 'Seifer?' I thought, 'Hey, Seifer!'

'Yes, I'm here. My body might need a minute though.' His voice penetrated my thoughts.

'What exactly did you do? And wouldn't it have been easier to just trick the dining car people into giving us free food?' Not that I wasn't incredibly grateful for the everything, but I don't see why he preferred this to the trickery. 'Um, thanks for the food, by the way.'

'You can do this anywhere, place part of the magic realm on top of a regular room. If someone walks in, all they will see is the luggage wagon. I couldn't have done this with passengers present, the crystal being blindingly bright and what not.' His arm flung up off the bed. 'Well, at least that function is back. Careful, my aim might not be great.' He warned, his other arm flying up and across his chest.

'I already mind tricked someone today money wise. Doing it twice in one day is just wrong. Do it too often and the greed can get to you and toss you into black magic, which is hard to get out of. What I did instead was give us better lodgings and free food. It just took a lot out of me. Tell me, is my toe moving?'

I glanced down and noticed that indeed, his toes were moving through his shoes. 'Yes. So, we'll be staying in this room until we reach Nashville? Does the food replenish? Can we request different things?'

'I summoned stuff out of my own apartment, which is what makes this a non-dark spell, so the food will keep coming until my fridge back at home is empty. You're lucky I had beef, onions and cheese.'

Smiling, I closed my eyes so it would be easier to concentrate on talking like this. 'Thanks again. I didn't realize that sorcerers had regular places to live and eat.' Frowning at the sudden thought, I asked, 'Where will I sleep tonight?'

He sat up all of a sudden, cracking his neck. "It's a king size bed, Hayner, get over yourself. Either you take the other side or you sleep on the rug." He paused, leaning over to the side to check the floor. "Did I summon the rug?"

"No." I said dully and sat back watching him move around the bed. Rolling my eyes, I figured that I'd just leave him alone for the time being and go back to tending my plant. He needed to eat, and then...I don't know, but he was kind of an ass, and I wished that I had better things to do than sit around here waiting for the train to get to its destination.

"Ease down on the irritation would you? Or at least stop thinking them at my mind." Seifer growled out, shuffling out of bed and moving over to the table to grab himself a sandwich, biting into it. "Stop calling me an ass. It's getting boring. Find some other insult." He added while eating.

"Bugger off. How about that?" I glared at him, feeling my face heat up. "You know, you're just as irritable. And stay the hell out of my mind!" Growling at him now, I plopped onto the bed and pulled a pillow over my eyes, imagining myself sitting alone, in a field of grass, no one within miles to bother me.

"Okay!" He shouted all of a sudden and I could feel the bed shift as he sat down at the foot of it. "Clearly we both have a temper and don't always know how to locate our patience." He pointed out the obvious. "I think you are a waste of my time. I was supposed to be doing other things but Larxene made sure I got stuck in this situation, and although I am very aware this isn't your fault, I can't seem to stop myself from blaming you for it anyway." Nodding, he then waved his hand flippantly my way. "You try it now. Why am I getting on your nerves?"

"I said, _bugger off_!" Throwing the pillow off of me and hitting him in the face with it, I tried to calm down enough to be coherent. My heart was trying to ignore how useless his words made me feel, so I simply let my anger go instead. "What part of that don't you get? I'm a waste of your time! Fine! I agree! I can happily spend the rest of this trip not exchanging a single word with you and we'll both be happy!" Throwing myself back down, I turned so I was facing away again, my breath coming fast as I tried to control my temper. I closed my eyes and imagined the field again, no one around to bother me.

"Not you as in your fucking personality!" He grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back so he could look at me. "This situation. Your situation. You're a nice guy, Hayner, but the situation you got yourself into? I'd be lying if I told you I was happy taking care of it. That's what I meant by it being a waste of my time." He explained carefully before letting go off my shoulder, climbing off the bed and marching back over to the table to grab himself a second sandwich.

I didn't let his words register, I couldn't. He was throwing me off balance so much, I couldn't understand it. Why was I being so touchy? Blushing in embarrassment, I didn't say anything as I saw him slowly make himself a sandwich. I tried not to draw attention to myself now, not after acting like a spoiled child in front of him. Only the field occupied my thoughts and instead of trying to understand why it had bothered me when he thought me a waste of time, I focused on my breathing. I wasn't going to let my thoughts escape; I didn't want him to know them anymore.

"You're decent company. I don't mind you, and I think we may actually have fun at some point. Just never poke me again to wake me up, that was fucking cruel, man."

"Yeah," Was all I said, finally feeling myself calm down, but still keeping my thoughts simple. Maybe it would be easier if I only looked to him as someone above my station. That seemed to be the safest thing right now. Beyond that, I wasn't sure how to act around him; I needed boundaries and if it took me being the one to put them in place, then so be it. I could do this and not make a fool of myself like I just did. Sometimes, I was so childish when pushed into situations.

I heard a groan and then a few seconds later the bed shifted again, telling me he was sitting beside me. "I'm 25." I wondered why he was announcing this all off a sudden, but didn't really get the time to figure it out as suddenly his hands were on my sides, tickling me relentlessly. "And this is the best way I came up with to cheer you back up!" He said with a big grin as I squirmed beneath him.

Dammit! Panting and unable to stop the storm of giggles that escaped me, I tried to push his hands away, but he was stronger than I was. "Seifer!" Laughing, I tried to reach out as I rolled towards him, trying to tickle his sides like he was doing to me. I couldn't catch my breath and I couldn't even speak as only my laughter came out.

When I managed to press my fingertip somewhere below his armpit, a shriek escaped him, his hands detaching from my sides as he'd practically jumped out of his skin at the sudden contact and not a moment later he'd managed to tumble off the bed and fall with a thud onto the floor beside it. Blinking in surprise, I quickly peeked over the edge of the bed, making sure he was okay, but what I ended up seeing was Seifer sprawled out on his back, chuckling quite happily as he just lay there.

"Promise not to tell anyone I'm that ticklish."

I chuckled and sighed, finally catching my breath. "You shouldn't have told me..." Raising an eyebrow, I leaned over, offering him my hand to help him up. "But I promise not to take advantage too often."

"Yes, well, I couldn't come up with anything else to get you to stop brooding." He smiled, clearly making sure he wasn't accusing. "So, how about you tell me about yourself?" He asked, sitting back up on the bed and giving me an expectant look. I couldn't tell if he was truly curious... 'I'd like to know more about him...'

I blinked in surprise and just nodded. "Um, well. I'm 20 years old and I grew up in a rather normal family. Couldn't find work in the village, so I went to the next town over to work in the factory." Chuckling, I stroked my right arm. "Broke my arm a couple times getting it caught in those fucking machines and so I went back to the village to recover. Sora had grown up there with me, only he'd been run out of town right after I went back to the village. Nothing really special about me." Scooting closer, I eagerly leaned forward on my knees. "How did you find out that you had magic?"

"Well, I'd say everyone is special, but you more so because you have magic." He pointed at my plant and then pursed his lips. "I-" He glanced at me warily. "Each sorcerer sort of has their own specific thing..." He started. "I don't know what yours is, not something I can find out, it'll happen when it will. I found out about my magic when that specific thing happened to me." Wrinkling his nose he leaned back onto his palms. "I wanted a cat one Christmas, but my mom wouldn't let me have it because my father is allergic." He cleared his throat, scratching his head. "I wanted one so bad, I sort of... turned into one."

My jaw dropped. "A cat?" I felt a smile threaten to break out at the thought of him as a kitten, all small and cuddly. "You turned into a cat?"

Seifer nodded his head, looking embarrassed, "Yes, a cat. I can shape-shift. Cat being the first thing I turned into. Now I've learned how to turn into anything I want thanks to magic school. It's a bit rough on the bones, you see, the contorting and what not? But they taught me how to breathe and relax in the right way so it wouldn't hurt anymore. Still does sometimes when I shift into a big animal though."

I couldn't get the image of him as a cat out of my mind for some reason. "What did you look like? Can you change color? Or are you the same color as your hair?" I pointed at his messy blonde hair and then glanced at his face, and blushed. "Sorry."

He grinned, "It's fine. Since you seemed uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed with me, I'm willing to turn into a cat to sleep in that form, giving you more space on the bed and my being a cat will probably make you feel less nervous." He raised an eyebrow. "You can then see what I look like as a cat too."

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. I didn't have a problem. I just didn't want you to pass out again when you noticed that there weren't two beds." I just hadn't been sure that he hadn't meant to bring one. Quirking my eyebrow at him, I narrowed my gaze. "You don't snore, do you?"

He sighed heavily, "And I so wanted a manly excuse to turn into a cat..." Stretching, he shrugged. "I don't know if I snore. People I've shared a bed with before haven't pointed this out to me."

I blushed. "Oh, sorry." Why in the hell was I blushing? We weren't lovers and it's not like we would be just because we were sharing a bed. Dammit. Taking a deep breath I jumped up, suddenly wanting a drink of water. Anything to get my stupid mind away from whatever I'd been thinking. "So, what kinds of things have you turned into?"

* * *

><p><strong>Seifer<strong>

"Ehm..." The list of animals I'd turned into was long. "Anything really, be it to blend in, hide out or even to make traveling easier. Cow, rabbit, bear, wolf, snake, dog, horse, bird. Birds are fun, I get to fly." Smiling wistfully at the memory, I then returned my attention to Hayner's face. He was a tricky one.

"Sometimes I turn into things without really realizing it happens. Can be a reflex to something and unfortunately it can happen while I'm sleeping too, if I'm dreaming of some kind of animal," I cringed. Yeah, that wasn't always awesome...I'd woken up as a fish once. Thankfully my mother had found me before I'd died of lack of water.

He turned back towards the bed after taking a drink, and walked back over, sitting on the edge. "Can more than one sorcerer shift their shape? Or is it only one person at a time?" 'I would love to fly', he thought wistfully, still not any better at keeping his thoughts from spilling out.

I shook my head. "I'm sure there are more out there, but it is very rare two meet and when they do, they can tell." I gave him an apologetic smile. "Afraid you're not one of them. But in 2011 they have air crafts that go up in the air and there are short term spells that allow you to turn into an animal for maybe like, an hour."

Shrugging, he smiled. "If I live that long. Or, is the outer realm really different?" Pulling his knees up to his chest, he rested his chin on them, sighing at me as his eyes glazed over. 'This is all so bloody strange.'

"You'll be able to travel into any time period once you start magic school. The realm will become your home and that place is without time, so whenever you step outside of the realm and into a time period? You're pretty much going on a trip of some kind away from home." Then I nodded at his thought. It must all be very strange to him. A lot to absorb in such a short amount of time, yet he was handling it really well. Quite impressive.

"How are you feeling? Why did you pass out? Will that happen every time you do magic?" Oh great. He'd suddenly found his courage again and would probably be peppering me with questions for the next hour. "Will I have to get a crystal like that?" His eyes were bright and staring into mine, begging for answers and information.

"No, just with heavy spells." I felt the need to point that out. "And here," Snapping my fingers with my right, a crystal poofed and appeared into the air, dropping into my left palm. It was similar to the one I was wearing around my neck. It was mine actually, one of the many I had. "You can have this one." Reaching out, I offered it to him. "I'll teach you how to place a self-protect spell onto it, which you can do since that falls in the healing magic type."

It must be giving him a headache, having his eyes pop out that often as he ogled the crystal in my hand. He slowly reached forward with his hand and carefully lifted the crystal, holding it in front of his face as it twirled in the air in front of him.

"Wow. Um, thanks." Sending me a panicked look, he asked, "Are you sure? I mean, what if I can't do it?" What if you have to leave me in Tennessee?'

'I'm not leaving you in Tennessee.' Taking the crystal from his hand, I then moved closer so I could tie it around his neck. "You have magic and although the detour to Tennessee doesn't make me very happy, bringing you to the magic school so you can find out just what you are capable off? That is a very pleasing idea indeed." Pulling back, I nodded with a smile at the crystal around his neck. "If you want, I'm even willing to make a witch's promise so you'll be sure I'm not leaving you there."

He glanced down at the crystal, fingering it silently. "I believe you. I just don't want to disappoint you or anything." Looking back up at me, I saw him wince slightly. "I just wanna get there and be done with it. Although, I am kind of curious about Cloud and Leon. How can they be together? Sora was run out of town. Shouldn't they at least be shunned?" 'What's their secret?'

"Then Sora probably wasn't discrete enough, or the person he was with wasn't. Cloud and Leon apparently are and that's their secret I guess. In the realm and 2011 you don't have to hide your sexuality. I'm quite sure that's why Sora wished to remain in that time period." I sure hoped he'd relax on the whole gay thing at some point. I understood why it was a difficult matter for him to think or talk about, but it would be too bad if he ended up a closet case. Would be sad if that particular matter could force him to not be who he wanted to be.

He sent me a puzzled look. "What's a closet case? And I'm trying to relax on the...gay thing. It's not like I really meet a lot of them out and about."

I smirked at the fact that he was getting better at channeling my thoughts. "I always believed the term to come from this; when you got a piece of clothing you really enjoy, but you know it's a bit flashy or strange to the outer eye, so you never wear it even though you love it. It ends up staying in the closet because you love it too much to throw it out, yet you're too afraid to wear it in public." I shrugged. "Now apply that logic to the liking men thing and you'll get what a 'closet case' is." Leaning back onto the bed to get comfortable, I stared at his curious brown eyes.

Nodding his head slowly as my words played through his head, he fingered the crystal absently. "So, you are gay, but you are not a closet case? Does that mean that you have a lover?" He wrinkled his nose. "Is that what you call them?" 'I suppose he is rather handsome, isn't he? Lucky bloke.' His thoughts were a little grudgingly admitting of that fact. Of course I was good looking.

"I am gay, I'm not a closet case, I do not have a lover at the moment, or boyfriend as some call it, and I am handsome." Looking him over, I smirked, "So are you." He was, and I didn't mind admitting it. "You've got a cute nose and your eyes make me think of chocolate." Sighing contently, I closed my eyes and settled back into the pillow, quite willing to take another nap, actually. "I like chocolate."

'What the bloody hell? Why did he say that? Oh, bugger it. Why is it so easy for you to say things like that? It's very strange to hear it.' His thoughts were somewhat quieter, and I smiled at how easy he was catching onto speaking mind to mind.

'I'm just telling you what I am thinking. If I don't tell them straight out, you'll just hear them at some point while listening to my thoughts.' I reasoned. "If it makes you uncomfortable then I'll try and stop." I think I could do that.

'No. I suppose it's fine.' I heard him sigh. Then the bed dipped and I felt him lay down on the other side of the bed. 'I'm more tired than I figured I'd be. Must be all the beatings I got yesterday.' He chuckled. 'It's a good thing you got us this room, or I'd probably get into even more fights on that stupid train. There's no place to run after all. And did I mention that this bed is really comfortable? Okay, I'll stop thinking now...'

I groaned, shaking my head in amusement. "You don't know how to stop thinking." I pointed out. 'It's fine though, just don't poke me to wake me ever again.'

'How about I tickle you awake? Holy hell, I can't believe I just thought that. Pretend to be asleep.' His body stilled and didn't move.

"I can still hear you..." I sing songed, chuckling. "Hayner, before I fall asleep, tell me something..." I pulled the blanket over us. 'Ever had a boyfriend?'

He jerked in surprise and he cautiously answered, 'No, I haven't. Have you?'

He's a _virgin_? Toning my thoughts down, I tried to relax back into that sweet prelude slumber. "Yes. Now let's sleep."

'Oh,' Came the quiet thought and then nothing else.

* * *

><p><strong>Hayner<strong>

I'd never woken up in a more comfortable bed in my entire life. In fact, I didn't want to wake up at all, but my stomach was growling again as that beef sandwich hadn't been enough to hold me over for long. Stretching out underneath the large blanket that Seifer had pulled over us last night, I stilled as I remembered. I'd slept in Seifer's bed last night. Shrugging my shoulders, I figured that since he didn't care, I shouldn't. It just felt strange…

I leaned up onto my elbows, confused all of a sudden about why my legs felt like they couldn't move. They were parted and nestled right between them, was a blond...cat? Curled up on its side with its head tucked under its paw, I grinned and leaned over, unable to resist the urge to pet it. I didn't advertise the fact, but I actually sort of liked cats. They were...cute. Touching its head between its ears gently, not wanting to startle it, I started scratching, wondering where Seifer was so I could ask him what his cat's name is.

"Seifer?" Still petting and stroking the cat's fur, I glanced around, wondering where the heck he was. The cat stretched out, rolling over onto its back, paws in the air, and a purr pulling steadily out of its throat as I continued to scratch it. Tilting its head, it made clear it wanted to get scratched under it's chin. When I did, Seifer's voice penetrated my thoughts. 'Yes... right there, buddy.'

"Seifer?" Freezing in surprise, I stared down at the purring cat, and it cracked it's, er, his eye and I was staring into the deep and ice blue that I recognized as Seifer's color. What the hell…

'Apparently talking of how I turned the first time had me nostalgic and well, bibidi babedi boo, here I am, turned into a cat throughout the night without my really realizing it. Can you rub my belly?' His forepaws caught a hold of my wrist and he rubbed his head against the back of my hand. 'God, this is so embarrassing. Stupid cat instincts...'

Chuckling, I leaned forward over him and used my other hand to rub his belly, trying not to laugh out loud at how very adorable it was. Not all cats were this affectionate and I could feel my fingers vibrating from his loud purr. His fur was almost the same color as his hair, very soft and I wondered if his hair had the same quality as well. 'So, does this feel good?' Scratching behind his ears, I watched as his eyes closed and the purr increased in volume.

'Hmmmm... Never stop, ever...' His tail swished then before he rolled back over. 'Fish!' His thoughts suddenly shouted. He shook his head though, blue eyes confused before he sat down, his eyes closing, purr returning when I stroked his head softly. 'Riiight, wait, oh yeah...' His head followed my movements and he wasn't as graceful as most cats seemed to be as the further he pushed into my hand, the worse his balance got. He keeled over onto his side, blue eyes blinking in confusion again as he seemed to try and figure out how he was suddenly lying on the bed instead of sitting. 'Maybe I should turn back.'

"Ahh, I kinda think you make a cute cat." I laughed and reached out to pet him one last time, sighing as his purr continued. Pulling my hand back, I nodded. "Okay, you can change back now."

'Thank you.' He cleared his throat through a thought, clearly embarrassed by how very cuddly he could become. 'Hold out a blanket.' He instructed before moving over to the edge of the bed. He leaned down from the side, leading me to chuckle as his cat butt wiggled in preparation before jumping down to the floor. Looking down to see him standing there, his tail swished one last time before a large of smoke appeared, blinding me for a split second until my vision cleared again, having me staring down at naked legs now.

"Don't look up. This tail isn't as cute as the one I was sporting a second ago." He warned, grabbing the blanket.

My face warmed and I quickly stuffed the thought that almost escaped back behind my eyes, not wanting him to hear exactly what I thought might be cute about the tail he was sporting now. Resisting the urge to look, I just held the blanket up and tried to think about something else.

"So what are we going to do today?" I'd been curious about the crystal that was still hanging around my neck and he'd mentioned something about a self-protect spell?

He nodded his head while pulling up a pair of underwear. "That's a good idea, I can teach you how to put together the self-protect spell. I should have all the ingredients needed in that closet right over there," He pointed over his shoulder at the closet beside the dining table. "You won't really need my help since I think you're smart enough to do it without my assistance."

Buttoning up his pants, apparently he decided to remain shirtless for now as he made his way over to the closet, pulling it open and then proceeded in taking things out, putting them on the table. "I should have..." He murmured, not finishing his sentence as he stuck his head inside the closet and then let out an 'Ah hah!' when he found what he was looking for. Smiling he tossed a book my way. "That's the book with basic spells. I'll read them to you."

Standing up and grabbing the book, I went over to the table and sat down, setting the book before me. I opened it to the middle and as I stared down at the words that I couldn't read, my mind was suddenly assaulted by images of hands waving in patterns, words were following along and I slammed the book shut, panting.

"Bloody hell." Taking a deep breath, I gently opened the front cover to the first page. Peeking down, I braced myself for the images.

"Woah." Looking up at Seifer, I saw him rubbing his temples. "What the hell did you just do?" He asked, not accusing or sounding angry, just very curious and confused as he stepped closer, looking down at the book. "I thought you couldn't read?" He murmured, frowning at the pages filled with numerous letters, words and sentences.

"I can't." I said shakily as I suddenly understood exactly what this page was saying as well, and I turned towards him, my eyes wide and I tried very hard not to hyperventilate. "What is going on? I know how to make it rain!"

"Yeah, you can..." Seifer said, sounding utterly surprised as he stared at my forehead. "Okay, here," He turned his attention back to the book and opened it up at a random new page. "Wait." Snapping his fingers, a round palm sized clock appeared out of the air, dropping into Seifer's hand. Staring at the clock, Seifer then nodded. "Alright, go ahead, look at the page and tell me when you got it."

Gulping, I peeked down at the page and my eyes widened as I saw a tower of roaring flames in my mind followed by words that I suddenly understood...firestarter...elemental flame...and I snapped my eyes up and away, licking my cracked and dry lips.

"Fire. Lots of it. I think I can summon fire." I furrowed my brow as I tried to remember it all. "I can control it? Is that right?"

Seifer's eye twitched as he threw the clock up into the air, it vanished before it struck the ceiling. "That was less than two minutes. And yeah, summoning fire. Remember the steps and you'll actually be able to summon a flame right now." When I lifted my hand, he quickly grabbed it. "Buuut...Wait just one minute. I want to make sure if you can learn things fast and control them just as quickly or if you need to train before being able to master it. I don't think it'll be a good idea to test that particular matter with fire." He pointed out before sitting down on a chair beside me.

He snapped his fingers again, another book appearing out of nowhere, thudding down onto the table before my nose. "That book is about a great sorcerer named Merlin. If what I'm thinking is correct, then your ability, like mine is shape shifting, is explained right in here." His voice was in awe as he stroked the cover of the book gently.

"I'm not going to be attacked by those images again, am I? Because I feel like my brain is stretching." I didn't mean to complain or anything, it just seemed really intense and I was…well, kind of scared. Strike that. Not really scared, just slightly concerned. Taking a deep breath, I let my hand hover over the cover and I bit my bottom lip. Without waiting for a reply, I opened the cover and glanced down at the writing, this time trying not to let myself be overwhelmed by the knowledge that seemed to be pouring directly into my brain. As my fingers stroked the letters that I could now name, but not yet read directly, I grinned as the words were making sense and I eagerly turned the next page, wanting to know more.

"Merlin was one of the greatest wizards on the planet because he had the ability to learn faster than others." Detaching my eyes from the page momentarily to look at Seifer, I saw him smiling at me. "He didn't know how to read either. Not at first anyway."

Turning the page again, I went back to reading. "So, I'll still learn how to read normally after a while, right? Oh! Lookit!" Lifting my eyes, I pointed at the page in excitement. "I can cast spells on other people! Well, I guess that's true. You did anyways." Going back to the pages, I realized that I could spend all day reading about things, but I wanted to try something right now.

Reluctantly closing the book, I asked, "Can we try something now? Like the self-protect thing? I don't think I should try anything on my own yet." Even if I could learn everything faster, I figured that just meant I had the knowledge, it didn't mean I could actually do it.

Seifer nodded, easily agreeing and waved his hand at the items he'd pulled out of the closet a while ago. "It's very basic," Standing he took the kettle, placing it on top of a..."It's a small stove connected to a gas bottle." He pointed at the thing I assumed to be the gas bottle. "Nothing magic about that. Future equipped, is all."

Turning a knob on the side, a flame was lit under the kettle. "I placed the ingredients you need on the table and here..." Reaching for the first book he'd given me, he paged through it until he found the page he was looking for. "That is the explanation on how to make the protect spell. Basically you have to drop the ingredients into the kettle in a certain order. Once completed, a puff of smoke will flow out of the kettle and you just have to make sure to hold your crystal above it."

I nodded and took the book from him, standing and putting it down in front of me as the directions were suddenly in my head as my eyes scanned the page. Grabbing the first ingredient, and after getting a nod from Seifer, I dropped a few drops of some kind of oil, ivy I think, into the pot. The second and third were easy enough, a few shavings of sandalwood and some sort of black powder. Last but not least, I needed a certain flower and then the smoke would appear.

As I plucked a leaf off the flower that was laying next to the other ingredients, I heard a frantic "Oh wait!". But of course it was already too late because by the time his words registered, the leaf had already dropped into the kettle. My eyes stung as a puff of smoke appeared, a bright and nauseating pink instead of the light blue color I'd been expecting. And even though I held the crystal out above the kettle, the string of smoke seemed to ignore it entirely, hesitating as it flowed before my face and then shook before dancing away from me.

"Shit!" Seifer cursed, scrambling away but the pink smoke seemed to care less about Seifer trying to get away from it, picking up in speed and shooting up his nostrils. His blue eyes rolled into the back of his head and he seemed to lose balance for a second, slamming back into the closet, his hands managing to grab the wall for support, keeping him from crashing down to the floor. He was panting, his eyes huge as the pink smoke's spell settled within him.

I stood frozen, not understanding what just happened, but it couldn't have been something I did, right? I mean, I followed his instructions. "Seifer? Um, you okay?" Taking a step closer to him, my hand outstretched to steady him if he needed it.

"Hayner?" He asked, his eyes looking up and... woah, they totally brightened when they landed on me, didn't they? He smiled broadly then, his hand reaching out to snatch my hand, tugging on it while he stepped closer so he could have me land up against him. The hand previously around my wrist was now settled against the small of my back, while his other hand was now cupping my cheek. "God... Do you have any idea how incredibly beautiful you are?" He murmured softly, his fingers pushing the hair out of my face gently as he stared deeply into my eyes.

Woah. Instantly, I pushed him away, stumbling as I fell out of his grasp, my eyes wide and my heart beating fast. "Bugger off! Shit, you can't just grab me like that!" Glaring at him and not liking the look in his eye, I quickly stepped around the table, putting it between us. I don't know for sure what just happened, but this was not the desired result at all! "What is wrong with you?" I bit out as he stepped forward.

He looked confused which didn't make sense because the Seifer from a few minutes ago wouldn't have been. "But, Hayner... I love you." He reached out, but when I flinched back, he retrieved his hand. "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't really court you properly or anything yet. Want to go out on a date?" He asked, sounding very pleasant and happy indeed.

I shook my head and grabbed the book from the table, clutching it to my chest desperately and flipping through the pages. "Um, no. No, to whatever that is. What I want, is to figure out what just happened and how to reverse it. Because you do not love me. I'm sure of it and I need to figure this out!" My voice was climbing in volume and my palms were sweating. What if he didn't know how to reverse what just happened? What HAD just happened? If I could figure that out, I might be able to stop it!

"Oh my god..." Seifer breathed, leading me to look over in worry as he hadn't sounded very well. He was sitting on a chair now, rubbing his chest. "The way you make me feel is so overwhelming. I feel light headed but wonderful. Hayner..." Looking up at me, he smiled softly. "Thank you. Once upon a time I didn't believe love to be possible for someone like me, but you changed that."

"Um, yeah..." Flipping the pages faster, trying to comprehend exactly what was wrong with him, not quite believing what the obvious answer was. A love spell. That was the only explanation for what he was saying. He hadn't been in love with me before, that's for sure, and now after being enveloped by a cloud of pink, _pink_...he was saying that?

"Hah! Yes found it!" Pointing excitedly at the page that was describing a pink cloud, I walked over to where he was sitting and waved the book in front of his face. "Look! I bloody found it!"

Pursing his lips, he scanned the page over. "A love spell. Interesting...Do you wish to use it on yourself to be able to feel the way I feel? I suppose that could work, unfortunately the effects from this spell only last about five hours and," He shook his head, taking the book and closing it. "Although not a bad idea, it won't work since you'll just end up forgetting what you feel once the spell has worn off." Sighing happily, he reached up and cupped my cheek. "Just give it time, Hayner, soon you'll feel the way I feel."

Growling and pushing his hand off of my face, I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Great. So now I have five hours of lovey-dovey crap being spouted at me!" Dropping the now useless book on the table, I walked back over and flopped face first onto the bed. 'This is unbelievable.'

'You're unbelievable...' I groaned at the loving words Seifer pushed at me through thought and then popped my head out of the mattress as I felt it shift beneath his weight. "You look tense, here," Before I could protest, his hands were already on my shoulders, kneading the skin over my shirt, pushing the knots away expertly.

"H-hey! Hands!" My face burning, I flipped over and tried to catch his hands, hopefully putting a stop to _that_ as soon as possible. Maybe I could reason with him? "Um, Seifer, you're under a spell. You don't really love me, okay?"

He shook his head, grinning in amusement. "No I'm not. I truly love you." At least he wasn't forcing me to accept his advances as he just let me hold onto his wrists, not trying to push so he could continue, neither pulling away and out of my grasp. "I can prove it through a kiss. May I kiss you?"

"No! That won't prove anything at all!" I may have stopped his hands from touching me, but he hadn't moved from where he was sitting next to me on the bed, and he was leaning over me. Licking my lips, I was trying to think of anything and everything to convince Seifer he was mistaken. 'Seifer, you _don't_ really love me. Okay? And I doubt kissing me will prove anything.' He could hear the truth in my thoughts, right?

Stilling in his motion to lean into me, he frowned. "Can you stop telling me how you think I'm feeling? I believe I love you and that's that. Now, if you are uncomfortable with me telling you this, then I won't mind keeping it to myself until you are ready to hear it. For now though, whether it's certain I love you or not, what is for sure is that I want to kiss you."

Pulling his hands free from my hold, he moved forward very suddenly, pushing me back on the bed and hovering over me, his deep blue eyes fixed onto my lips. "It won't harm anyone to try it." He assured, his mouth inches away from my own.

I couldn't think. He was too close and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the icy orbs piercing my gaze. Seifer's mouth twisted up into a small smirk, his hand coming up to push the hair out of my face, thumb then sliding down to brush my bottom lip.

"Your pupils are dilating..." He murmured and all I could think was 'huh?', leading him to chuckle softly. "It gives me certainty you're not entirely against the idea of me offering you a kiss." His fingers held onto my jaw softly, tilting my head back all the while pressing his lips gently on top of my own while his eyes slid closed.

My body felt like it was struck by lightning and I shivered against him, too surprised to push him away. He was warm and inviting and it took everything in me to not succumb to it and him. This wasn't real…it wasn't. My first kiss was being taken by a spell-bound Seifer and I would never get it back. Not that it was too important, but this wasn't _bloody _right. Bringing my hands up, I gently pushed him away, missing the warmth his body had given mine. With calmness I didn't fully feel, I shook my head.

"No." I murmured softly, fighting against the feelings that I saw in his eyes. "This isn't right, Seifer. I...I don't want this. Please."

He looked pained, his thumb softly stroking my cheek before he pulled up and away entirely. "Sorry, I didn't mean to push you." He murmured.

Dammit, now I felt bad. What the hell was wrong with me? I know I didn't want him kissing me, so why did I feel a sense of loss when he actually did pull back? And now that he was apologizing to me about it...arrrgh. Scooting up and away from him, I sat and thought for a second. He obviously couldn't help the fact that he was, err, in love with me. So I just had to deal with it.

"Look, I'm sorry. Okay? Just, you can't..." I took a deep breath, "It makes me uncomfortable when you do stuff like that. I'm sorry." I only had to worry about this for the next five hours, right? Then it would be all over and we could go back to normal. Licking my lips, I blushed as I remembered the kiss. Dammit. _He_ wouldn't have remember that.

Pressing his lips tightly together, he nodded. "I understand. Let me make this easier on the both of us..." His blue eyes glazed over before flashing and then a big cloud of smoke surrounded him, blinding me for a moment. When the smoke vanished, I could now see Seifer had turned himself back into the kitten from this morning.

Walking over to me, his tail swishing in the air, he then rubbed himself against my thigh before flopping over and across my lap, his stomach partly facing up, big blue cat eyes begging me to pet him as he already started purring. My fingers automatically started petting him and I stared down, smiling in relief. "Thank you. I think I like you in this shape." It was easier to think without him hovering over me, staring as though he truly did love me.

His head pushed up into my palm, 'You're welcome.' Was all he returned in form of thought before his eyes hooded closed, his breathing becoming rhythmic, his purr continuing without skipping a beat as he settled into my lap comfortably.

I suppose the attention that he gave wouldn't be so bad; if it had actually been his idea and not the result of some spell. Touching my lips, I let my mind remember back to it actually happening and I curse at myself silently. He was right. I'd wanted it to happen. Shaking my head quickly, I pushed that thought out of my mind. It was all a spell and in four and a half hours, he wouldn't remember a single damn thing that had happened.

Feeling a little sick to my stomach at that, I resolved not to take advantage of this, and simply wait it out. I'm sure he would be embarrassed if he knew that he had kissed me. Just as I was embarrassed that I let him. It was unfortunate that he would be the only one to forget about it, while I was now going to be forced to remember every time I looked at him.

* * *

><p><strong>Seifer<strong>

Waking, I stretched out my limbs and opened my mouth, realizing I had turned back into a cat instantly as I licked my upper lip, feeling the top canine poke my tongue. Hayner's hand resting on my back was another hint. His fingers slid up over my spine, scratching me softly behind my ears. The purring grew louder as he continued and I wondered how I'd ended up settling on his lap...Then again, when in cat form I tended to zone out rather massively, leading to a couple of blanks after a purr-filled warm nap.

'Hayner?' Tilting my head up, I stared at him, seeing that he was leaning against the headboard, only half awake. 'How was the book? Did Merlin's biography give you enough information on your ability?'

He started, and snatched his hand back suddenly. Glancing down, he gulped nervously. "Merlin's biography? Um, that's what you remember?"

'Remember?' I asked, moving off his lap and over to the edge of the bed. It always seemed so high up when I wasn't a human. Wiggling my butt, I prepared and mentally kicked myself to just get it over with. After jumping down, I concentrated deeply, breathing in and out steadily before tapping into my magic. It was only a couple of seconds later that I felt the air hit my naked human skin and I quickly turned to grab the clothes I'd gotten rid of during the turn to get dressed again. He was staring at the ground, his face red and his eyes looking unhappy. Turning so that his back was facing me, he stood up and walked back over to the table.

"Yeah. Something went wrong with the protection spell. I figured it out, and it said that you wouldn't remember the last five hours. I was just checking to see what the last thing you remembered was." Squaring his shoulders, his voice brightened slightly. "But it looks like everything is back to normal. Except I'm starving." With his back still towards me, he sat down and opened the book again.

"A love spell, huh?" I now remembered taking out the wrong plant from the closet when I'd been distracted by his ability manifesting. "Sorry 'bout that. Must have embarrassed myself," I chuckled, pulling on my pants. "I didn't make you uncomfortable or anything during the effect, did I?" I asked, knowing full well a love spell could play weird tricks on the one affected. "If I did, then I apologize, I wasn't myself." Reaching up for my crystal, I looked into it. "We're closing in on Nashville. I'll go get us some food from the restaurant wagon."

"No. It was fine. Um, what about money?" He asked.

"It's a new day. I can trick one person into believing I have money without letting the black magic affect me." I assured, frowning at the back of his head as he seemed unwilling to turn around and look at me. "Is there anything specific you'd like to eat? They tend to have large menus, so I'm sure they'll have whatever it is you're craving."

"Um..." He tilted his head to the side, and rested it on his palm, his elbow next to the book. "How about whatever their special is. And I could use a pint of lager, please." Completely leaning against his hand now, he seemed exhausted. Slightly concerned with his well-being, I walked over to his plant, placing it in front of him.

"If you're feeling unwell, you can take a couple of leaves from the plant and make tea out of it." I suggested, backing away to let him be and so I could be off to get us that food and those drinks.

Tucking my shirt into my pants, I slipped out of the wagon and into the next, receiving a couple of strange looks from passengers that I simply ignored. I don't know what had happened during the love spell, but somehow he'd managed to build a pretty steady wall around his thoughts. Then again, that shouldn't surprise me since he had the ability to grasp things much faster than the usual sorcerer. He probably just didn't feel all that well after having napped sitting up.

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><p>AN: ^_^ I love this chapter! So many interesting things revealed. But seriously...the next chapter is by FAR my favorite. Can't wait to share it with you next week, and again, thanks for all the awesome reviews and we will miss this series when it's over!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Second to last chapter guys. We sure hope that you will enjoy this chapter. It happens to be Alice's favorite one. And like we mentioned before, it really helps to read Get outta here, Greenhorn. But you can still enjoy it by itself:D Thanks for all the reviews, we really love them. **

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><p><strong>Seifer-Two days later<strong>

The last hours on the train that got us to Nashville had been long. Hayner had been particularly quiet, his eyes fixed on the book about Merlin the rest of the way and he'd mutely taken the food and drink I'd gotten him. I'd asked him about it at some point, but he said he was just trying to absorb everything he'd learned over the last couple of days, that he was finally sort of realizing what was going on and that he needed me to give him some time to come to proper terms with it.

It's not like I couldn't grant him that space, I understood why it was overwhelming, and even though I had started to miss his constant questions flung randomly at me at any given moment, I'd simply nodded, telling him I'd give him all the time he needed to be okay with it all.

In Nashville the plan had normally been to find a carriage and be on our way, but I thought maybe a normal night out would help Hayner feel better about the whole situation, so I'd located a witch's coven. He'd insisted we get two separate rooms, and although that had been the idea in the first place, for some reason he hadn't given me the choice if I'd wanted it. Not thinking too much about it though, I'd then offered we go out to a bar, get a drink, maybe go sight seeing. He'd shaken his head, telling me he better find a way to get rid of the trouble attracting side effect placed upon him before he did any 'outing'.

So...I'd ended up in my room within the 'Maneola' witch's coven of Nashville, scanning every book they had to offer in that place that could set me on the right path of finding a solution to breaking the slight curse Hayner found himself under. Turns out that all he needed was a kiss, which was often like that with curses, both major and minor.

Getting Hayner to kiss someone? I'd figured it to be something complicated as usually the kiss needed to come from the person the one cursed had an interest in. Hayner had simply stomped down the stairs, grabbed the first bar maid he could find and planted a good one on her mouth, wiping his lips. He'd then nodded at me and marched his ass back up the stairs.

Of course at that moment I hadn't believed the curse to be broken, so I'd run after him, trying to explain he needed to kiss the one he was interested in, not some random bar maid. He'd sighed, climbed back out of his chair, walked back down to the bar area in the Maneola witch's coven and then shouted out to that same bar maid she was a whore. She hadn't slapped him or anything, just stared at him rather dumbfounded. The spell was clearly broken.

Hayner had then made very clear I was not to pester him until the next morning. I felt out of place all of a sudden, which was a rare feeling as I never felt like I was irritating someone with my presence alone. Or, well, that was sorta a lie, but usually I knew _why_ the person was irritated to have me physically present in their space. Right now I had no idea why Hayner was so grumpy with me.

Of course, I wasn't going to play brain surgeon and waste time on figuring it out as I'd been too tired and ended up simply crashing in my bed to get a good night's sleep for the following day as then we had to go on a carriage trip to the next train station. That second train would get us to a town north from where Cloud and Leon's ranch was located. After that it was only a day's ride on horseback to get to the ranch itself.

The carriage and train ride had gone on in silence. I'd tried starting up a conversation with Hayner on numerous occasions at first, but as the hours flew by and Hayner still gave me short clipped answers, I decided it was best to just leave him alone. So, I'd ended up using the traveling time in the train to study.

I had exams coming up at some point and although I was lucky to be somewhat ahead, I still didn't know everything I needed to know. And that had been the picture. Hayner sitting on one side with a book, myself on the other with my own book, barely any words exchanged as we waited for the train to halt, allowing us to continue onwards with the next step of our trip.

Which was now. Looking up from my book, I smiled as the train screeched to a halt, the station coming in view through the window. I really needed fresh air.

"Come on," I said quickly, wanting to get to the exit before any other passengers. Snapping my fingers, I made all my books vanish, including those of Hayner so he didn't have the choice but to be quick and follow me out of this thing. Nodding silently, he popped his neck and quickly stood up to make his way to the nearest exit. Falling in step behind me, he still didn't say a single word, only looked blankly around at the other passengers. 'Now were to?' His thoughts were very quiet and controlled now, and I suppose that it was all of the studying that he'd been doing nonstop on this trip so far.

I moved out of the train station, smiling at how...old this town looked. It was like a real western village in the movies. "We're only a day's ride away from the ranch, but in this place there aren't any cars, carriages or trains that can bring us there." Looking around, I spotted an alleyway and then quickly moved in there, waiting for Hayner to follow.

Once he did, I peeked my head back out and carefully registered the clothing fashion in this place. "I don't know how to ride horseback, so we're not going to buy horses. But we do need a saddle for you. And one of those things that goes around the horse's head. But there is no way in hell I'm letting you put that metal thing between my teeth."

He blinked. Looking confused, he asked, "What? Oh, bollocks." I saw the understanding dawn in his eyes and he suddenly found the dirt we were standing in to be very interesting. "That should be easy enough to find. I bet the stables have a tack shed where we can find you, er something that would fit."

"Here," Snapping my fingers, I summoned the golden watch I had lying somewhere in my apartment. "That should cover the equipment you'll need to get for me. Just trade the watch for it; I'm sure trading works around this type of town," I murmured, placing the watch in his hand. "I'd trick the person into giving it for free, but you need to fit the saddle on my back and I can't do any trickery while being a horse." I pointed out. "Clothes first." Snapping my fingers, I changed his attire to one that fit the fashion from around here, my eyebrow raising as I let my eyes scan over his figure. "You make a neat cowboy." He really did. "Now, for your horse..."

"Hey!" Turning red, he clutched at his shirt and patted his chest. "Easy on the changing my clothes without permission!" Grumbling, he then turned around and crossed his arms. "Go ahead and turn into a horse. Just fyi, don't be a black one. You'll die of heat stroke."

I snickered, "I see you've been reading up on modern slang." Shaking my shoulders loose, I took a couple of steps back and away from him. "No fucking spurs." I clipped out, before letting my eyes glaze over, the smoke cloud starting at my feet and working its way up and around me. I felt my eyes droop as the change started to take place, wincing just a tad as this was a bigger animal to turn into than I was used too, but the breathing method given at school was definitely helping in that department as I then heard my hoofs stamp onto the ground.

I shivered as the new found muscles in my body clicked into place. 'God, I should turn into a horse more often... I feel so strong and...prideful.' Shaking my head, I swished my tail and felt the tip of my mane tickle my neck.

'Bloody hell!' Came Hayner's mind voice and I quickly adjusted to the strange views that a horse could see from, eying him in wonder. He was so short! Taking a step back from me, he gulped and glanced around. 'Okay, let's, um, get your stuff.' He tore his eyes away from me and started walking, glancing backwards to make sure I was following, my watch dangling from his hand.

'You might want to hold onto my hair so it looks you're actually guiding me. I'm a mighty stallion, I'm not supposed to be all that obedient.' I grumbled out through thought, trotting a few steps ahead to settle into a slow pace beside him as with four huge legs I was walking a lot faster all of a sudden. Nudging my nose against his shoulder I managed to push his arm up and over my neck so it was resting there.

'So, I'm not black, right?' I was still having difficulty with the eyes on the side view type vision. Turning my head, it only bumped into Hayner's stomach, so I decided to just let him tell me as I walked onwards to the stables.

'No. You are a terrifying brown. So mighty with four white stockings and the cutest little white star between your eyes.' He stumbled and I heard him mentally berate himself. 'I mean, you are brown and white. You'll blend right in.'

'Brown? Not that I can tell, I see in black and white.' I tried snickering, but it came out as a contorted horse snort instead.

'Well, just don't let the mare scent from the stable override your human instincts please, O mighty stallion.'

"Hello? Is anybody here?" Stopping us in front of the stable door, Hayner kept his hand resting lightly on my neck as he shouted into the large doors, trying to get the attention of someone.

I swished my tail forwards, letting it swat his butt. 'I'm gay even as a horse. Not even stallion instincts can override that.' A man appeared from the back of the stable then, walking over to us and taking me in with a wary eye. Lifting my head, I pressed my nose into Hayner's cheek, giving him somewhat of a nuzzle, hoping that would show the stable owner I wasn't some kind of evil stallion on the loose.

'Seifer, don't do that!' I watched as Hayner blushed and gently pushed my nose away. "Don't mind him, he's harmless. Um, I was hoping you might have a spare saddle that I could purchase? And as my horse doesn't like the bit, maybe a hackamore bridle?" As the cowboy in front of us looked puzzled, Hayner cleared his throat nervously. "We were robbed, it seems."

"Ah, that makes sense, young feller. Why don't you just put him in one of the empty stalls and come with me to have a look over what spares I got."

Nodding in agreement, Hayner gave me a look and he led me forward. 'I hope they have a saddle that will fit you. You're huge!'

'Thank you.' Another contorted horse snicker. 'And you didn't tell me you knew about horses.' I pointed out but was practically cut off when a hand landed on my butt. Letting out a noise of irritation, I glared as best I could with horse eyes at the owner, who looked completely bewildered by my reaction before I obediently stepped into the empty stall Hayner guided me too. 'Humans really take all kinds of liberties with animals they would normally never take with other humans. That was my butt he smacked, I'll have you know.'

Trying to hold in his laughter, I watched as Hayner's shoulders shook while he closed the stable door, basically locking me in for the time being. 'I'm sure it was just a pat of appreciation.'

"You be a good boy, um...Seifer." Looking sheepish as he walked away, I heard his thought, 'Damn, I am lousy at coming up with fake names...'

'Good thing too, I'd have bitten you with mighty horse teeth had you dared call me Rocky or Cookie or any other foolish horse type name people seem to give these poor beasts.' I whinnied after him.

'Hey, it was your idea to turn into a horse so I had something to ride. Don't be complaining about it now.' I sensed him talking to the cowboy, a quick conversation and then a swap of the watch for the items. I suppose the man must have different sizes for different horses. 'And for your information, I've been riding since I was a kid. But only bareback or with an English saddle. This American one will be very hard to get used to.'

'I'd rather figure out how to gallop than figure out how to sit on a horse galloping.' I reasoned. 'Now get back here, the horse on my right is staring at me funny.' It was probably sensing something was completely whacked out and off with me as I technically wasn't a horse to begin with.

'You are sure impatient. Fine.' Mental sigh. 'I'm coming.' And he was, rounding the corner, his arms full of a saddle blanket and a saddle, a bitless bridle slung over his shoulder. 'Just hold still and this will be over shortly. That cowboy is watching, so don't do anything funny. I'm thinking he's gonna ask to use you as a stud for his mares.'

'If you dare pimp me out, I will buck till you fall.' I warned, keeping still as he settled the blanket on my back first, my muscles shivering at the sensation.

'Relax. We don't have time for that anyways. If we don't leave soon, we'll be stuck camping. He said that we can cut the time in half by taking a back trail. He figures that a large stallion like yourself,' I could practically hear the sarcasm, 'should have no problem.' Dropping the saddle on my back, he started cinching it up.

'Because if we did have time, you'd accept?' A horse shriek escaped me and I turned my head, instinct taking over as I nipped his shirt when he tightened the belt around my stomach. 'Easy, that feels weird...'

He winced. 'Watch the teeth. Just exhale so I can tighten it. I'm not going to risk sliding sideways.'

'Sorry, but just warn me next time.' I exhaled slowly, stomping my front hoofs onto the ground in annoyance at the tightening feeling. Once he was done, I turned my head towards him so he could settle the bridle over my face and behind my ears.

'I promise not to touch the reins if you promise not to buck me off, deal?' Untucking my forelock from the leather, he stood in front of me and stroked my face absently.

'I'll behave.' Didn't want to hurt him or anything. Pushing my face up, his palm covered my nose and I nuzzled into it. 'Come on, let's go. The turn gave me a full load of energy to fit the size of a horse and I need to run.' Nodding, he opened the stall door and mounted, settling comfortably before rubbing his boots against my side, signaling me forwards.

After taking a couple of steps that must look as if I were a drunken stallion, I finally got the hang of walking while carrying Hayner on my back and set out to get out of this town and onto the road that would get us to the ranch.

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><p><strong>Hayner - later that day<strong>

I groaned as the ranch, or what I'm assuming and dearly hoping was the ranch came into view. Dear lord, it had been a while since I'd ridden a horse and as much as I appreciated Seifer acting as the horse, he had the worst gait of any animal I'd ever ridden. It got better the farther along we went, but that first hour or so was murder. I guess I'd been rather subdued lately and even though the ranch in the distance signaled the end of our journey, or at least the end of my journey in this realm, I was going to miss being with Seifer.

If it hadn't been so hard to look at him and not think of that kiss, I would have been a better traveling companion. But it had just gotten even worse now. Every time he spoke or laughed or I even remembered that he was sitting next to me, my heartbeat increased and I fought to control my reactions to him. It wasn't fair. In the past two days, I had come to realize that I wanted him to kiss me for real and it was absolute torture to know that the one kiss we would share was fake.

'Is that it? Are we there yet?' I tried to keep the whine out of my thoughts, but I would be very happy if that was the ranch.

'Yeah, that's it. Larxene said she'd warned Leon and Cloud that we'd be coming and that she explained the situation to them.' He breathed roughly through his nostrils, shaking his head before using the last bit of energy he had to trot up the hill the ranch was standing on. He'd kept a steady pace throughout the entire day, only slowing and starting to sweat a couple of hours ago.

The sun had come up rather high and that last hour there hadn't been that many trees offering shade. I'd been glad for the cowboy hat. 'They know someone's on their land.' Seifer thought, halting a couple of big steps away from the front door, his ears twisting around curiously.

I was about to ask how he knew that when the door opened and out stepped a tall dark haired man, steel grey eyes staring at me from underneath the rim of a dark cowboy hat. He was rather good looking in his own way. My eyes went immediately to the star pinned to his chest and I sighed as this was the right place.

"Can I help you?" He asked, his voice stern and not exactly welcoming.

Gulping and wishing that Seifer was in human form so he could answer that, I cleared my throat. "Hello, um, my name is Hayner Allen. I was told that I could find a Leon or um, Cloud here?" He had to be one or the other.

'I'm not turning now, I don't want to scare the fuck out of him.' Seifer pointed out, while a second man stepped out from the house, coming to stand behind the tall dark and somewhat brooding one.

"Hoi," He said simply, looking a lot more welcoming with his bright blond hair and big blue eyes. 'That's hello in Dutch. He must be Cloud.' Seifer informed.

'Yeah.' Shutting Seifer out for a moment, I concentrated on Leon and Cloud. They were so...not what I was expecting. "Hello. I'm Hayner."

"Yeah, you said that already." Leon glanced around past me and then raised his eyebrow. "Where's the witch? We were expecting two of you." Patting Cloud's shoulder, he took a step forward and then frowned at how tall I was sitting on Seifer. "Why don't you come down and we'll get you set up? I'll put your horse out back."

'How do you want me to answer that one, O mighty stallion?' I asked, knowing that he didn't want to transform and scare them, but...

He puffed out some air, pushing Leon's hand that was hovering a few centimeters above his nose away irritably and stomped his foot. 'Ask him if Larxene, the witch, explained to them what magic is, if they say yes, then I'll turn. If not, I'll let him take me out back and... turn there and show up in a little bit.'

'Don't bite him. He's nice.' I admonished the sorcerer, sensing a lot of hostility in the air all of a sudden. Slowly dismounting and groaning as my legs stretched out to touch the ground, I reached up to absently pat Seifer.

"First off, did Larxene, the witch, tell you anything about what magic is?" Doing a few squats after I asked and not caring if I looked funny; my legs were sore. Leon glanced back at Cloud with his eyebrows raised.

"Yes. Leon doesn't really believe it even if she just vanished into thin air after her short visit to explain why you needed to stay here. Apparently she saved my life on my boat trip to the Americas." Cloud announced, stepping closer to Leon.

'Okay, she poofed in front of them. I can turn. You want to warn them?' Seifer butted in.

Without responding to Seifer, I quickly stepped forward and out of the way. "Okay, well just be prepared to meet my guide." Leon stepped back with me, his mouth quirking to the side as though he was humoring me. I just shrugged, figuring that he'd be a believer in about ten seconds either way.

'I like Cloud better,' Seifer grumbled, letting out one last irritable horse snort before his eyes glazed over and the smoke started swirling up from the ground up and around him, hiding him from being seen while he shifted back to human form.

"Jesus!" Is what I heard coming from Cloud when the smoke disappeared, revealing a very naked Seifer for just a split second as he then snapped his fingers and was dressed again. I turned and looked away, unhappy again to see him face to face. Looking at Leon, I chuckled quietly as his face looked frozen in shock. Yeah, I'm sure I looked like that when Seifer performed magic in front of me for the first time.

"This is Seifer. He's, um, a sorcerer." I waved my hand towards the now dressed Seifer, still not looking at him.

"Oookay, two legs." I heard a thud and when I peeked, I saw Seifer sitting on his ass on the ground, blinking in confusion. "Kay, that turn took more out of me than I thought." Cloud rushed over to him, grabbing Seifer's arm to help him up. I blinked as I heard Leon growl, muttering out that Cloud still wasn't thinking before acting.

"Are you okay?" Cloud asked.

Seifer nodded, "Yeah, fine, just need a moment to remember how to stand on two legs instead of four." He patted Cloud's arm, thanking him for helping him up.

'He has about two seconds to remove his hands before I lay him out in the dirt.' I winced at the strength of Leon's thoughts slamming into my head, and I realized that I'd let my guard down and since Leon was the closest to me, I was hearing him loud and clear.

'Seifer, you better back off. You have one _very_ protective marshal thinking that you're his new punching bag.' It would not be good to annoy the only people around who could feed us.

"I heard that. The threat was loud enough for even me to hear at this distance." Seifer muttered, taking a step away from Cloud who looked utterly confused now. "You have a very protective boyfriend." Seifer smiled and winked at Cloud, laughing when Leon made very clear that he did not appreciate Seifer toying with him.

"Well. You did your duty. Hayner is safe with us, so you are free to return to do whatever it is witches do." Leon had his arms crossed now, no doubt trying to hold himself back and he glanced over at me, giving me a small smile of welcome. "Come on, Cloud. Let's get the kid settled before dinner."

I didn't know what to say. 'Do you think they'll still feed us even if I don't stay?' I asked Seifer, feeling the day's exhaustion catch up with me. My legs wobbled and I bit my lip as I tried to stay upright.

'They like you, so I'm sure they'll feed you.' Seifer shot back. "Actually, it turns out that Hayner has magic so if he still wishes it, I will bring him back to the magic realm so he may start learning how to master the craft." Seifer said carefully, taking another step away from Cloud for good measure. Good boy. 'Thank you.' I chuckled at his mental reply.

"How very exciting!" Cloud exclaimed before Leon could speak his mind. "You hear that, Leon? There's a magic school!" The blond walked over to the brunette, smiling widely. "We should have them stay here for the night, they look exhausted. We haven't had company ever because we want to stay secluded considering our relationship, but they clearly know of liking men, and they don't seem to mind." Cloud looked up at Leon with big, big eyes. "Outsider communication..." That was a plea. "I'll make dinner for the rest of the week and even go fetch firewood." And there was the begging bargain.

I grimaced as Leon's thoughts were suddenly in my head again and um...I blushed and put up more barriers in my mind to block him out. It didn't really make sense to me why he was easier to hear, but I didn't want to hear any more. His facial expression didn't change at first, but he glanced at Seifer and finally scowled.

"I don't like him."

'As if Cloud's the blond I'm interested in...' I blinked at Seifer's thoughts, looking at his face to see if he realized I'd heard. Didn't look like it.

Cloud grasped Leon's chin, turning his gaze back to him. "I'll carry my gun on me always and if he so much as touches me, I'll blow his brains out." He offered cheerily.

"I'm going to sleep very peacefully tonight." Seifer announced sarcastically.

"Hey, he's fine." I stepped in front of Seifer blocking him from Leon's angry gaze. "Okay? Just...I'm very tired. And hungry." I did not want to even think about Cloud blowing Seifer's brains out and standing out here in the dirt wasn't really that fun anymore. Not to mention that I couldn't understand, or really, I couldn't hope to understand what exactly I'd heard from Seifer's mind. It sounded like he said he was interested in a blonde. I tried not to get my hopes up that it was me, but…I wanted it to be me.

Leon sighed and pulled Cloud forward by his hand. "Come on. I'll start dinner if you want to take Hayner and Seifer to their room."

"Yes I do, because if anyone should be worried, it should be me." Cloud informed, Leon giving him a puzzled look. Cloud shrugged, grinning, "You're the one with the blond hair obsession. Both of them are." He nodded his head in mine and Seifer's direction before marching back into the house, leaving Leon staring before him with his eye twitching.

He glared at Seifer, who just glared right back as Leon growled out, "Don't even think that I would want anything to do with you." Spinning on his heel, he followed Cloud inside and I sighed in relief as the tension fell back down to normal. Talk about grumpy.

I turned to look at Seifer, blushing a little as I asked, "You okay? You're right. He doesn't seem to like you very much."

Seifer looked dumbfounded. "I know... And I didn't even do anything. I think that's a record breaker on my account." Shaking his head, he looked at me, smiling. "Thanks for the vouching." He murmured, reaching out to squeeze my upper arm gently in form of thanks. "Come on, let's go inside and-" 'He'd said their room...not rooms, but room.' Seifer's thoughts blasted into my brain, but he didn't seem to notice me reading them again this time around either as he started walking up to the front door.

I bit my lip and figured I'd better pull Cloud aside and inform him that we were actually going to need two separate rooms. Leon would probably kill Seifer if he tried talking to Cloud alone and I didn't need to be stranded in a strange place all by myself for the second time in a week.

"And, what?" I asked, as I followed him inside.

Seifer looked confused for a moment, halting in his steps. "Let's just go in and ask where our room is." I hadn't been expecting him to stop, and I ran right into the back of him, still trying to understand that he seemed perfectly fine that they'd only mentioned the one room. Stumbling and falling backwards, I threw my hands out behind me to catch myself.

Seifer did first though, his arms coming around me, pulling me up against him and stopping the fall. "Woah, you okay?" Seifer chuckled, pushing the hair out of my face. 'Chocolate colored eyes...'

Wow. My breathing hitched as his good looks stunned me again. Damn him. Nodding silently and feeling myself blush, _again_, I held my breath at how close he was. My forehead tingled from where his hand had touched and I had to shake my head to gather my thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry. Come on, Cloud's probably waiting." With our room. And I didn't want to correct him...argh...but I had to. Dammit. Stepping out from Seifer's embrace, I cleared my throat and spotted Cloud waiting at the end of the hall for us, his head cocked to the side and his expression thoughtful. Seifer gave me a quick nod and then walked over to Cloud, not exchanging any words as Cloud simply pointed him down a hall.

'And Leon was so sure they were together...' Cloud's thought entered my mind as he looked curiously after Seifer and then sent me a smile, waving me over.

"Your rooms are down that hall." I guess Cloud had made the decision on whether I'd be sleeping in the same room as Seifer or on my own.

Sending him a half relieved, half disappointed look, I nodded. "Thanks. And you're right. We, um, aren't together." I figured that I could at least be truthful and up front and not rely on his obviously excellent observational skills to decipher everything.

"So, you do read minds?" Cloud said, sounding absolutely fascinated as he tugged me down the hall with him, clearly just being a touchy kind of person. "And why aren't you together when you both so clearly want to be?"

I sighed. He reminded me a little bit of Sora. "Yeah, I can sometimes catch a few thoughts here and there. But I have to be in the right frame of mind." I blushed at his second question. "It's not that simple. And please tell me I'm not that obvious. He...doesn't see me that way."

I didn't think I was one to talk to random people I just met about my problems, but after almost four days of being alone with the one person I _couldn't_ talk to about this, I was desperate for someone to listen.

Cloud snorted. "Are you joking? He's as cryptically interested in you as Leon was in me. I agree that it appears he doesn't see you as such, but if you nagged him about it some, then you'd probably end up seeing." Cloud nodded, pushing open a door and waving me into the room. "Honestly, pushing works with the type of category Leon and Seifer both seem to fall into."

"How do you know? I mean, it's probably just a side effect from that stupid bloody spell." Walking inside, I grinned at the bed pushed up against the wall and the small desk in the corner. Everything looked hand crafted and very well made. I wonder if Leon was the craftsman.

"Nice, huh?" Cloud said proudly, nodding at the furniture. "Leon pretty much built this house from scratch, everything inside included. He also keeps the people safe. He's my personal hero." Cloud sighed dreamily. "Anyway, back to your issue."

Giving me a serious nod, he then started, "I don't know anything about spells, was unaware such a thing as magic was even true up until Larxene barged into our ranch and decided to clarify that matter up to us." He shrugged. "I think you should stop trying to write the signs off as them being connected to magic and just talk to him. Is there a particular reason you seem to not be able to believe Seifer is capable of liking you in that fashion?"

"Have you seen him? He's amazing!" Okay, so maybe I was being a bit frantic as I felt my arms waving towards where I assume Seifer was staying. "The shape changing, the instant travel, that thing he does where he snaps his fingers and the clothes just go poof! And they're suddenly there." I snapped my fingers to demonstrate. Sighing, I went and sat down on the bed. "I guess I could see him liking me, but that stupid spell messed with my mind some, and now I can't get a read on him."

Cloud grinned, "If I agree with you, Leon will have his head. But I will softly tell you that I do see your point. Now though... Didn't Seifer just tell us there is magic in you? From what I've seen, Larxene can do most of those things except maybe the shape shifting." He shook his head then. "It doesn't even matter. Every person is unique and special in their own way. You are definitely a match for Seifer, Hayner, magic or not."

He smiled slowly, "Seifer seems to think so. I could sort of tell by the way he touched your hair, and if Leon thought you were a couple?" He snorted. "That man is oblivious to that type of thing. I dropped my pants down in front of him twice and even that didn't give him a hint to the fact I like men."

I blinked. "You...dropped your pants?" Laughing suddenly, I held my stomach and just pictured bright happy Cloud, flashing stoic Leon his goods. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that one. I bet Leon about had a heart attack. Trying to catch my breath, I was still chuckling as I fell over onto the bed. "Okay, okay. So you think Seifer likes me. What do you suggest I do?"

Cloud chuckled, probably remembering, "Yes, Leon says I somewhat lack inhibition. He had to pull leeches off my naked backside not long after and we weren't aware of each other's tastes then either."

'Memories... I'm going to take Leon to the lake tonight and get nake-' He shook his head out of his thoughts then, giving me a sheepish and somewhat nervous look. "Sorry. Okay. Ehm, yes. The Seifer thing." He nodded. "Just, talk to him. And if you don't want to confess your feelings for him first, then I'm sure you heard something from his mind that will help you direct the conversation on him and not you."

Sitting up, I blushed. "He said something about a blonde he was interested in that wasn't you. Fine. You take Leon out to the, er, lake tonight, and I'll talk to Seifer." I stood up and walked over to him and stuck out my hand. If there was no chance of either one of them interrupting us, then I might have the courage to actually talk to him.

"I'd make some snarky remark on you kicking me out of my own house, but I do think it's best if we keep Leon and Seifer as far away from each other as possible." He grinned, shaking my hand.

"Yeah...Leon really does not like Seifer, but I think the feeling is mutual." Chuckling, I saw Cloud start close the door behind him as I went to sit at the desk. I needed to think of what to say to Seifer while I still had the guts to do it.

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><p><strong>Seifer<strong>

The idea of listening in on Hayner and Cloud while they were talking had entered my mind, and by the time I realized that would just be really rude, I'd already turned into a cat, now sitting by the foot of the door that led to Hayner's room. I heard some mumbling, but made sure to not tap into their thoughts and managed, with great will power, to trot away, tail swishing, out into the hallway.

I could explore instead. I don't think as a human I would be able to explore much since that dick, Leon, seemed to really dislike me. Where was that brooding bastard anyway? Slipping between a narrowly opened door, I checked out the room, but moved back out as it was only the bathroom, continuing on to the next door. Jackpot. A living room. As I passed by a leather chair that looked extremely comfortable and just screamed 'owned by Leon', the fleeting idea to sharpen my nails on the side of it entered my mind, but I didn't want to be petty, so I continued onwards.

A piano was the next thing, and I couldn't help myself, jumping up and walking over the keys, making a bunch of noise before jumping off the other end of it, setting off into a galloping sprint. I nearly rammed into a wall, but managed to slide over the polished wooden floor, turning a corner and then ran onwards and into a kitchen.

The piano sound had alerted Leon, leading him to open the door and giving me space to enter that room, moving under and between his legs, towards the first cupboard I could locate and I jumped up, checking out what was for dinner tonight.

"Hey! What the hell? Get off of there!" Waving his hands at me, his eyes narrowed and I saw a spark of fury in his eyes. "You better not have fleas, you little pest. This is not for you. Shoo!" He lunged for me and I don't think he was going to cuddle me like Hayner did, not with that look.

Slight panic kicked in as I saw his hand move towards me, and if I didn't do something, he'd surely knock me off the counter. And not gently. Blinking and concentrating, a puff of smoke blinded me for a split second, but a feeling of satisfaction and slight victory washed over me as I heard Leon yelp when his fingers touched my back. That being unfortunate as I'd turned into a porcupine.

"Holy hell!" Leon snatched his hand back and growled in anger, "Seifer! I'm gonna _kill_ you! And I'm gonna enjoy it!" My eyes widened as he glanced around quickly, smiling in triumph as he spotted a cast iron pan. Grabbing it in his uninjured hand, he swung it out and with definite deadly intent.

Think, think, think! Turning again, I slipped into the shape of a mouse, but realized I couldn't jump off the counter like this. No matter, setting off into a tiny run, I took a left and then slipped between the pots and the pans and sharp objects that covered Leon's kitchen working space. I heard clattering behind me, informing me that Leon was ramming the pan onto the counter, trying to smash me with it. He was getting closer! Another blinding moment when the smoke surrounded me and I then lunged up, hissing violently at him with menace, showing off my poisonous snake teeth. That led him to pause for a moment.

Thinking fast, I could almost hear his wheels turning, he spun around and grabbed another pan by the handle. Now armed in both hands, he brought the pans clashing into one another, the bottoms making a bang a few inches from my face and I gulped as he really was a quick thinker.

He grinned sadistically at me. "You like that? I'll turn you into a snake fillet!"One thing was for sure, no matter how much he hated my guts, he was having as much fun as I was at this game. His thoughts screamed it at me. Turning into a chameleon, I snatched out my tongue, letting it stick to his forehead. Lame, definitely, but effective as that had his eye twitching.

"You better hope you don't have some strange disease...cause I'll do worse than kill you. I'll castrate you and leave poor Hayner without any fun. Or maybe," His grin turned downright evil as he chuckled, "I'll just have to introduce him to a very nice young and curious cowboy in the next town over." Dropping the pan, he caught me by surprise as his hand shot out and grabbed me around the neck.

He thought Hayner and I were together? Interesting... Not even wiggling in his hold, I turned again, into a fish this time and that had me slipping out of his hold in no time, falling down and bouncing off the ground. After a surprised shout, he turned, grabbing a hold of me again, but failing as I just slipped once more and this time, I actually slid partly across the kitchen floor.

Before he could catch a hold of me a third time, I turned into a golden retriever, barking loudly at him, which I hoped was a clear 'that was a low blow' on the introducing him to a young and curious cowboy comment. Once done baring my teeth at him, I set off in a run, partly crashing into the door, but it opened, leaving me free passage to run out into the living room. Hayner. I needed to get to Hayner!

This was fun, but I was starting to think Leon wasn't kidding when he said he was going to kill me once he got his hands on me. I let out a nervous yelp when I felt his fingers ghost around my tail and quickly tucked it between my legs, jumping up and over his leather chair, on purpose, before continuing on my way towards the hallway.

"Hey! That's my chair, you flea-bitten varmit!" 'A personal insult!' His mind shouted at me, and I figured he wasn't going to give up...

I saw the way to my safe harbor, but Cloud was blocking it, nearly closing the door to it. I barked back at Leon, rushing straight for Cloud's legs, who looked completely baffled at the scene taking place before his eyes. Turning into my comfort shape, the cat, I was now small enough to run between Cloud's parted legs, slipping through the narrow opening.

Leon was right behind me, the door swinging open, but by the time he stepped inside, I was already halfway across the room, Hayner was in my line of vision, nearly sitting down in the chair behind a desk. He'd turned upon hearing the loud noise of course, good for me, because now... Pushing off my feet, I launched myself up into the air and into his arms, purring instantly as his arms wrapped around my cat shaped body to catch a hold of me.

"Seifer? Bloody hell!" Hayner shouted in surprise as Leon barreled through the door, sliding to a stop and glaring at me.

"Next time, I'm not going to miss you little bastard." Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head. I know because he was basically shouting them in an attempt to calm down. "You should be grateful for Hayner. He's saving your life right now." Spinning around, he grabbed Cloud by the hand and slammed the door, needing some alone time.

'I swear he was having fun!' I pushed at Hayner.

Petting my head and scratching my ears, he shook his head and smiled down at me, the first real one he'd given me in days. "You guys are destined to be rivals or downright enemies. What did you do to him?" 'It looked like he was trying to murder you.'

Pushing my head up into his hand, I welcomed the attention, purring still. 'I wanted to explore and figured cat form was my best option. I ended up in the kitchen and sure, I might have poked him a bit by jumping up onto the counter, but then he was ready to lunge for me, so I turned into a porcupine.' I paused, letting him register that. 'It was self-defense. Then we started a game of cat and mouse, so to speak. I turned into numerous things to avoid him while he chased me with pans.' I laughed with my mind. I wasn't grumpy like Leon was, that had been exhilarating, being assaulted with adrenaline and what not.

He sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down and laying me in his lap. 'You really like pushing his buttons, don't you?' Falling into a sort of rhythm with his stroking, he crossed his legs under him so that I was held in the circle of his legs.

Standing up, I started circling the spot between his legs a couple of times before laying down again, purring even louder, my nails gently grasping his pants and then releasing, grabbing, releasing, etc. I made sure I didn't touch his skin though. 'I needed to occupy myself so I wouldn't listen to your conversation with Cloud. I was trying to do bad to be good.' I reasoned. 'What did you talk about?'

Pausing in his petting for just a moment, he took a deep breath and muttered, "I made a deal..." Starting up the petting again, he thought, 'He told me I should ask you something. And I needed some convincing.'

I let out a low hiss, 'Please tell me it has nothing to do with young a curious cowboy from the next town over, or else I'll scratch Leon's eyes out.'

"What curious cowboy?" He asked out loud, sending me a puzzled look in between pets.

I let out one of those cat growls that personally made me feel like moving away from the animals, and I was surprised I'd managed to produce the sound from my own vocal chords right now. 'Just Leon messing with my mind.' Toning my…well, it was jealousy, wasn't it? Right, so toning that down, I returned to focusing on Hayner's hand, purring again as he started scratching me behind my ear. 'What is it you wanted to ask me? Cat form okay, or do you need me human for this?'

"Er, well…I guess it would be nice to see you standing in front of me, but you don't have any clothes." His face turned red and he glanced out the window. 'I suppose it would be nice to see that though.' I don't think I was supposed to have heard that last thought.

The purr continued automatically, but I was definitely no longer focused on his pets. He wanted to see me naked? Trying to wrap my head around that idea wasn't as difficult as that jealousy I'd felt was sort of helping in that area and then of course the fact that earlier I had minded the idea of separate rooms. Also, Leon and Cloud were both very attractive men, yet I wasn't interested in either of them, my attention constantly returning to Hayner. It's not like I'd been unaware I found Hayner attractive, but now that that thought of his was sort of saying 'sure Seifer, go for it', I realized being attracted to Hayner wasn't something that displeased me much at all...

'Alright, just close your eyes and I'll turn and snap on some clothes real quick.' I told him, jumping off his lap and onto the floor to do just that.

He followed my instruction and leaned back on his palms now that his hands were free, while he waited for me to transform. 'Don't let my bloody courage fail me now...'

If I answered that thought now by telling him he was probably the bravest guy I'd ever met, he'd surely not ask me what he wanted to ask. Turning back to my regular self, I sighed contently down at my dick, happy to see it along with the rest of my human body before snapping my fingers, clothes now returned to my body.

"Alright, I'm decent." I murmured, moving over to sit on the edge of the bed beside Hayner. He peeked one eye open and when he saw that I was, in fact, clothed, he breathed a sigh of relief and opened the other one.

Turning on the bed so that he was facing me, he bit his lip before blurting out, "What did you mean when you thought that Cloud wasn't the blond you were interested in?"

Of course he'd heard that. "Of course you heard that." Pursing my lips, I then shrugged rather simply. "It's not really all that recent, I'm actually kinda surprised you didn't read those type of thoughts off my mind before. Not that I was particularly constant on the idea, but since the first day I met you I've found you cute and that attraction has popped back up to the surface regularly. I just kept it to myself because you already have to deal with magic and all that, I didn't want you to have to worry about the whole liking men thing too."

That was true. Also, things had been strange since the very beginning. At first I had seen him as a burden, so the attraction was something I didn't wish to feel and I'd smothered it rather successfully. By the time I befriended him, I was sort of teaching him about magic and I didn't think my attraction had any place in mixing through that situation. Then, by the time we figured out he didn't actually need me to teach him much since he had the ability to learn in the blink of an eye…We'll, he'd ignored me quite steadily for a good couple of days, so, sure, being attracted to someone who clearly didn't want to communicate didn't seem like the wisest move.

He dropped his gaze to the bed and blushed. "I didn't know what to do! You kissed me!" Biting his lip, he met my eyes, begging for me to understand and I figured he caught my thoughts about him ignoring me. "When you were under that stupid spell. You kissed me. And then you didn't remember."

My mind was suddenly assaulted with the images and moments he was talking about, remembering it now that he spelled it out. "Your pupils dilated." I murmured. Sometimes, not all the time, the memory of someone who was struck by a love spell came back when the other gave them a keyword to work with. I hadn't asked Hayner about it since, well, the ignoring and all that. "I'm sorry." I think I was. "I stopped when you didn't want to kiss anymore though." I could now sorta remember how pained I'd felt when he'd pushed me away. That had been uncomfortable.

"Because it wasn't bloody real," He whispered, dropping his eyes again, and sounding pained. 'I wanted it to be, and it wasn't. That's all.' I suppose it was easier to talk mind to mind about some things, and I felt the hope and fear of rejection behind his words.

"Oh..." I grinned. "That's how your trouble curse broke..." I realized now. I'd been the person of interest who'd broken it for him. "Hey..." Leaning forward, I ducked my head so I could look into his eyes. "Did you read the entire page of the love spell? Cause if you had then you would have known that the specific love spells from that book only makes the person who is struck say sweet declarations and touches, not going any further than holding hands." Some spells were specifically designed to give nudges and clarity into situations.

I grasped his chin, tilting his head up to give him a smile. 'Unless they're truly interested in the other person. So the kiss was real, as I'd never have given you one had I not been interested in you to begin with. Love spell or not.'

'I feel like an idiot.' His face turned red in embarrassment this time and he grinned up at me. 'So all this time I could have liked you back instead of trying not to picture you naked in my head?'

I chuckled, nodding my head. "Yeah, that sounds about right. But it's okay, sometimes things need to go slowly. I guess that's why we didn't figure it all out right when it started happening."

'So, you wouldn't mind if I did this?' I barely had time to register his thought before he moved forward touching his lips to mine and clutching my shirt to hold me close. I blinked my eyes, staying right where I was as I slowly came down from the shock that had shot through me at his sudden move. Breathing out through my nose, I smiled at the way his eyes were squeezed shut, his mind telling me he was very afraid I might reject him.

'Your lips are so soft, Hayner...' I thought at him, bringing up my hand to cup his cheek gently, tilting his head so I could deepen the kiss with more ease, my thumb brushing his jaw and my eyes now closing as well. This felt so much better than I thought it would...I hadn't allowed myself to imagine what this would be like much, but in any case, I was more than happy it was actually happening now.

'I don't know what to do next.' He thought quietly. 'But I would really like to know what happens next.' Wrapping his arms around my neck, he pulled me forwards and on top of him as his back connected with the bed.

'Just do what feels right, Hayner.' I thought at him, settling gently down on top of him as I continued to kiss. I parted my lips, using my tongue to push his mouth open as well, seeking out his tongue. 'My heart is racing...' I cupped his face.

'I think my brain is melting. You feel so good.' His tongue was hesitant at first, but growing more confident as his arms were running over my shoulders.

Hayner's teeth were pressing down around my bottom lip, his chest heaving against mine and his arms tightly wrapped around my neck as he continued to move himself down onto my rock hard dick, about ready to burst. My hands were gripping his hips, helping keep him steady while he was sitting in my lap and I jerked my own hips up repeatedly, meeting him in the rocking motion, my cock enveloped by his tight ass.

His thoughts had fallen silent and so had mine, we didn't really talk either. At first I'd figured it was because we were too concentrated on getting to have sex with one another, but now, even though the moans told me he was enjoying himself and I certainly hadn't ever felt quite this good with any other partner before, there was something really cold settling between us.

Smothering that feeling, I tilted my head up, kissing him fiercely while one of my hands stroked over his back, my hips still meeting his with thrusts that were starting to pick up in their pace. I sighed into his mouth when I felt his ass clench tightly around me, a low moan pulling out of him as his body trembled right before I felt the wetness of his orgasm settle between our stomachs.

Jerking up quickly, I followed his lead, moaning against his cheek and holding onto him tightly as I came inside of him, the heat of it all making my mind numb. Panting, I realized that although this was most likely the best sex I'd ever had, something crucial was missing and I was very well aware it was communication. I don't know what had happened because at first when he'd kissed me, things seemed to have started out great and then suddenly...

Pushing the sticky with sweat hair out of his face, I placed a soft kiss against his lips before letting him pull away from me. He lay down on one side of the bed and while it was tempting to crawl up beside him and settle him against my side for some sweet pillow talk, I decided against it. The idea not feeling all that right, laying myself down on the other side of the bed instead, wondering how long I would lie here before getting up and returning to my own room.

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><p><strong>AN: O.O**

**I know, right? The very VERY last chapter of the entire Time series will be posted next Saturday. I do hope you all will tell us what you think about it. This has been tons of fun to write and tons of fun to share. Have an awesome weekend and see you next week!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: *gasp* The very last chapter? Of the entire series? *faints* So here it is people. Our FINAL addition to the Time Series and what a finale it is. Thank you very much for the wonderful support and reviews that we've received. It's been a lot of fun. Anyways, please PLEASE let us know if you have any questions about it and we will gladly answer your questions:D Hugs to all of you and here you go...**

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><p><strong>Seifer-A year later (AN: We kid you not. This is for real. We have a purpose though. Always trying to come up with new and original situations.)**

"I found an old photograph of Madame Minx in a book from the school library, can you believe it?" Rai said excitedly.

Fuu snorted, "You, in a library? There's definitely something unbelievable going on there."

"Witch." Rai announced, pulling Fuu into his side for a hug coupled with an eye roll. "She was wearing a pink necklace while it is sworn she never wore pink, hated the color." He explained. Madame Minx had been a very peculiar witch, strange tastes and weird obsession and focuses. She was as brilliant as Merlin had been, only she dabbled in black magic. I found the subject of her really very interesting, but...

Slowing in my tracks while Rai and Fuu kept on walking, lost in their conversation to instantly realize I wasn't walking beside them anymore, my eyes fixed on the figure of a sandy blond boy, with chocolate colored eyes, whom I hadn't spoken to for 11 months and 21 days. If he saw me, he masked his thoughts masterfully and his eyes never landed on me at any given moment. There were many people in the hallway though, so he might not have seen me.

Another boy was walking beside Hayner and from the rumors traveling around magic school, I knew he and Hayner had a thing going on together. Was I jealous? I couldn't even tell. I was sort of numb when I looked, thought or spoke of Hayner. Things had completely derailed and I'm not quite sure how it had happened. It's like we just drifted apart...

"Seifer?" Blinking out of my intent staring, I smiled weakly down at Fuu. "Are you okay?" She patted my arm in sympathy as she realized where what it was I had been staring at. "What happened between you two? Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head, placing my hand gently on the small of her back to have her start walking again so we could make our way to the cafeteria and away from Hayner. "No, he didn't hurt me. I'm not sure what happened. One moment we're friends, the next we're lovers and then following that we suddenly aren't anything at all."

"Why not talk to him?" Rai suggested, butting in as he fell in step beside myself and Fuu.

I shrugged. "What about? The moment we entered the magic realm we both seemed to agree that it was best we go on our separate ways." It was for the best. "Let's go eat something quick before we arrive late for our second before last exam."

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><p><strong>Hayner<strong>

I turned the corner in the hallway and immediately felt myself mentally relax. His eyes were no longer on me and I glanced around to make sure he wasn't somehow lurking about still. It was weird to be avoiding him, but it felt like the only way to continue my studies normally. I felt a tap on my arm, and I glanced at Lance and at his questioning look, I just shrugged and smiled.

It wasn't the same, that's for sure. It felt completely weird and foreign to be in a relationship with anybody other than Seifer, which was strange in and of itself because we had never even been in a relationship in the first place. The one night that we'd spent together, or actually, the one time we had sex together, we'd finished and basically gone our separate ways.

Of course I'd been pissed beyond all reason when I discovered that he'd basically ruined me for other people after that. Sure, I'd experimented here and there with other guys and no one had even come close to how good Seifer was in bed, the bastard. Hell, I hadn't even been able to be truly intimate with anyone, surviving on mutual handjobs and that was about it.

"Are you finished with that translation that the professor asked for Hayner?" Lance asked as he laced his fingers with mine. I winced, not really wanting to hold hands, but I let him anyways.

Nodding, I said, "Yeah. He has me working on the next level assignment."

"Oh, yeah. Lucky you have that ability." I could tell that I made Lance uncomfortable, big surprise, what with the fact that I was learning everything four times faster than the normal sorcerer could, but what was I supposed to do about it? Not learn faster because my boyfriend felt intimidated?

Giving a mental sigh, I figured that we probably wouldn't last another week with that attitude. Which was fine. I was comparing every little thing he did with the way Seifer did things. And that wasn't fair. It's why I couldn't ever look at Seifer or even let my thoughts free when he was around. It was so bloody obvious that I still had feelings for the guy that even the first years could tell.

I'd only made that mistake the first week I was here, and they'd just chuckled at me when I'd wanted to have him hang out with us. 'With Seifer? Pfff, don't lie. Nobody ties down Seifer Almasy. Plus, he's in his last year of magic school, he doesn't become friends with us noobs.' Well, that was true, at any rate. I hardly ever saw him during the last year and when I did, he was surrounded by his friends and I felt that I couldn't just walk up to him.

"Hayner, are you listening?" Snapping my head to the side, I gave Lance a weak smile.

"Sorry. I have a lot on my mind, I guess." He shook his head and I caught a few stray thoughts about how I was never listening to him and blah, blah, blah. That time with Seifer had really honed my mind to mind communication and sometimes it was a pain in the arse.

I spent the next class bored out of my mind and when my teacher pulled me aside to inform me that the school was going to finally start speeding up my education to match my abilities, I sighed in relief. Finally, something to focus my mind on. If I had to lose myself in my studies to keep my mind off of my, well, slightly creepy school yard crush, then so be it.

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><p><strong>Hayner-A year later <strong>(A/N: The boys are very slow in the romance department in this story! We actually struggled to get them to be together. But the jumps are helping!)

"So, who is going to be giving me my practical exam?" I was sitting in my professor's office, eagerly awaiting the name of the sorcerer that was going to be standing between me and my graduation. These past two years had been unreal and I couldn't believe that I was already going to be graduating. I'd be out and on my own, doing whatever it was the council asked of me, mixed in with a little freelance on the side.

Things had gone a lot smoother once I'd just focused on my studies and I'd been slightly relieved, yet pained, when Seifer had graduated and I couldn't even pass him in the hallway. But as much as I was aware of when he was around, it was almost harder now that he wasn't.

I guess I'd never really gotten over what we had together and in my most inner thoughts, I'd always pictured me with him. Mental shrug. What can ya do. Everybody has to grow up sometimes and I suppose he was always going to be my first everything and I should just be happy with that.

But this. _This_ part of the graduation process was the hardest in my opinion. Your performance was rated and I was hoping that I wouldn't get someone who was going to be jealous or intimidated by my ability. There had been a few of those over the years and it got tiresome _very_ quickly. One of the reason's I'd been single this past year, was the affect I had on people. It was mildly irritating, to say the least.

"Well, Mr. Allen, your situation has been most unique." My professor was what I referred to as the Merlin type. Not that he has the same gift, but the guy looked like how I would picture Merlin to look. Long white beard, glasses, and the pointy hat. I tried not to stare because it always made me snicker. I simply nodded and waited for him to tell me the name.

"We've assigned you with a recent graduate and from what I understand he was the one who discovered you as well." Paper shuffled as I tried to connect the dots. "Ah, a Mr. Seifer Almasy. Yes, he was a fine student, shapeshifter, if I remember correctly. You will meet him in one hour in the courtyard." He stood up and I automatically followed accepting his hand when he offered it. "Good luck, young man." He said pleasantly and shooed me out the door.

And so, an hour later, I bit my lip and stepped into the courtyard, glancing around to see if Seifer was there yet and trying to make sure my thoughts were controlled. He was my instructor in this test and it wouldn't do me any good to be oogling him while he was around. It was annoying, but he had been my first real crush and I suppose those were always the hardest to get over. It was only a minute later that he poofed into the courtyard, his back facing me before he probably sensed my presence and turned around to look at me. He gave me a small, tentative and somewhat hesitant smile.

"I did tell them I'd be coming back here to instruct you sooner than they'd expect. Two years and you've gone through all the lessons they have to offer?" Reaching up he straightened the black beanie he always seemed to wear unless he was in a time period that wouldn't allow him. "Impressive." He murmured, the random feelings I could tap into telling me he was still one of those few who didn't envy me for my ability.

I blushed. Dammit, I couldn't help it. He was still the best looking bastard around and I was suddenly aware of my camo print cargo pants and tank top. Yeah, I probably should have dressed a little nicer for this. Too late now.

Squaring my shoulders, I wasn't some lost teenage kid anymore dammit, I just nodded and smiled. "Well, you taught me a lot when we first met." I paused and scratched the back of my head. "How have you been?"

"Chasing trolls and going on pixie hunts on a daily basis," He said with a shrug, grinning, "It's actually not as fun as it sounds, becomes rather routine relatively fast. But I won't shatter your dream of an almost graduated sorcerer yet." 'How has he changed so much over the last two years...?' A fleeting thought of his penetrated my mind, and I knew I wasn't supposed to hear that as Seifer cleared his throat.

"You have limited poofing, or materializing being the more official word. But I'm sure you already know this. Basically I'm going to observe how you use them and if you use them wisely. Make sure you know when not to use them and use transportation spells or regular human travel instead. How you communicate with magical beings when they don't necessarily speak our language and just...I'll be making sure you're ready for this."

I was nodding along to his words, having heard this speech from numerous teachers trying to prepare us our final test. His thought had caught me off guard and I guess it made sense. I'd changed into more modern and comfortable clothes, I'd even gotten taller, only a few centimeters shorter than him now.

"So, what's the first thing that you want to see?" And apparently I'd also mastered the ability to use sexual innuendo. I tried to hide my smirk, but I don't think I was successful. It was just so weird, and I couldn't take the awkwardness very much longer. I never dealt well with stress.

"Err," He'd caught the innuendo, but clearly decided to not react to it. "Didn't the professor give you a list of tasks for us to work with?"

I snapped my fingers, calling the list from where I'd accidentally left it on my desk. I'd been hoping that he would know, but I suppose it was different for each student. Clearing my throat, I glanced at the list and grinned. Plant knowledge and Practical Application.

"It looks like we are heading to the gardens first and you're supposed to check my plant." Glancing down at the list again, I saw that I'd actually need some of its leaves for the 'Familiar' test. That would take place in the forest, surrounded by things that connected me and all sorcerers to the earth and nature. It wasn't really a new concept and I'd read a bit about Familiars in my studies. I'd never met one before and I didn't know anyone who had one of their own.

Seifer nodded, "Alright, so before poofing off to the garden, check the rest of the list and see which ones you are obliged to poof too, and which ones you can arrive at without help of magical transportation."

I scanned the list. "Okay. I have to poof to four different places and the rest I have to do it the conventional way." My face broke into a scowl as I saw that I had to make it to the Grand Canyon in the middle of the 1800's. No airplanes. Whatever. I'd figure that out when I got to it. There were eight tests in all and the first two were meant to be the easiest. "I suppose I shouldn't waste a poof down to the gardens." Sighing, I stuffed the list into my pocket and found it very easy to smile at Seifer.

'God, I missed seeing him around.' Bollocks. I blushed, pretty sure he'd heard that one and I spun around and started walking quickly. I knew he was right on my heels as we walked at a fast pace in direction of the gardens.

"I sense you're stressed. You'll do fine on your exams Hayner, and although you won't have the mental support of your teachers once you're graduated, you won't be alone." Seifer assured, picking up the pace so he could walk beside me instead of behind me.

I rolled my eyes and nodded. "I know, I'll have my familiar and all that. Which, by the way, what is your familiar? Do you even get one as a shapeshifter?" 'And I'm not stressed about the exams.' I thought at him, the very first deliberate mental communication that we'd had in almost two years.

Seifer chuckled. 'Fine, you're not stressed.'

"And no, I don't have a familiar. It's actually very rare any witch or sorcerer is granted one. Usually familiars are given to the wizards that have no idea what they are doing and need the extra support. Or to those, like yourself, that have an ability so grand, they need that extra little bit of aid to guide them through the motions securely."

He paused, eying me and when I nodded at him, he continued to explain. "That's not the only reason a familiar is given to a wizard though. The other reason would also be family situation wise. Me for example? I have my parents who are sorcerers themselves, so I automatically get aid from them. Sorcerers without family to help them familiarize are obviously more likely to receive a familiar too, since they don't have the back support of parents, siblings or other family relations."

"Huh. So I get one cause I need extra support and help?" I grinned. "Cool." Rounding the corner of the gardens, I felt my nerves sooth as I approached the plant that Seifer had given me when we'd first met.

Seifer smiled down at the plant. 'Beautiful... You took splendid care of it.' He thought it without hint of surprise, clearly certain I would have taken good care of it. "Merlin had an owl for a familiar. It's said the animal talked and was quite obnoxious, but Merlin shared a bond with the owl like he did with no other."

I laughed loudly. "An owl? Really? I hope I get something big...like a...wolf!" Snapping my fingers, my sorcerer's bag appeared before me and I leaned forward to wrap my fingers around the plant's stem, stroking it gently and asking it silently for a few leaves to use. It grumbled to itself, but it loosened a few for me to pick up and I thanked it as Seifer stood and watched, no doubt making sure I didn't just rip them off of it. This thing had seen me through a lot.

Tucking the leaves inside my bag, I turned and nodded. "Okay, I'm good to go. I guess I can just go to any old forest right?"

"Yeah, any will work."

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I walked over to stand next to him, shakily offering him my hand. If he wanted to end up at the same place I did, we'd need to be touching while I poofed us there. "Um, you ready? I know just the place." I'd actually gone there a few times to practice and it felt really natural.

Giving me a nod, he placed his hand in mine, and I wondered how he seemed to have no issue touching me or anything. Was he not at all affected by our past? That line of that screeched to a violent halt as I felt his thumb stroke the back of my hand.

"Go on then." He urged, his fingers stilling in mine.

I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, which took longer than necessary because I was actually touching Seifer and I hadn't touched him since…Closing the door on that line of thinking, I pictured the place I wanted us to be and I felt the familiar tugging that accompanied the poofs and suddenly we were there.

The cool air felt good against my skin and I smiled as the sounds of the birds and trees replaced the sounds of the school. Nature was almost an entirely new experience when you became connected to it through sorcery. Almost as though you were gaining more senses. The world was opened up to you in amazing new ways. Opening my eyes, I looked at Seifer expectantly, waiting to see if he had anything he wanted to say about the ride. He'd been doing this longer and could possibly offer insight or whatever to my technique.

"That was good, a bit wobbly on the edges, but I figure you haven't poofed yourself along with someone else before and you're much better at it than most." He grinned, letting go off my hand. "Shouldn't surprise me since you learn everything faster."

Blushing from his praise, I stepped back and glanced around, hoping to find something to sit on while I did the spell that would call me a familiar. It was going to be pretty simple, I just needed to be in a circle of the leaves that I gotten from my plant and basically speak to the magic, asking for a guide and then waiting while it...I guess, answered. It was a little vague on the details, but each sorcerer was different, supposedly.

"Thanks. So, since you don't have a familiar and have never needed to call one, then I guess you can't really help me or give me an idea of what is going to happen, right?"

He shook his head, but, "I haven't experienced it myself, but I've read books and from what I understand you'll basically summon a spirit that will know what type of familiar to assign to you. She's sort of like...Well, you know how we praise Mother Nature and the humans God? Familiars answer to her spirit."

I gulped. Yeah, talk about nerve racking. "Okay. I'm just gonna sit over here and basically poke an all-powerful being..." I noticed a log to my right and plopped down onto it, ripping the leaves I'd gotten from my bag into tiny pieces and sprinkling them into a circle around me.

"Technically she's in a position below that of Mother Nature and God as she actually communicates with us whilst Mother Nature and God leave us guessing." He grimaced and then quickly drew the witch's star in the air for an apology. "You get what I mean. They just never show themselves."

"Well, here I go." Closing my eyes, and resting my palms on my legs, I fell into the pattern breathing that they taught us and focused on connecting to my power and calling for a familiar. According to the reading I'd done, I was to call and just wait for an answer. Seemed rather simple, but I knew it wasn't. Sending a tendril of magic out with my request, I opened my eyes and waited for the spirit to respond.

"_Technically_..." A woman's voice shrilled through the air moments later, flowing out between the trees. "_I don't show myself either, Seifer Almasy._" She sounded amused and even let out a giggle as Seifer had the decency to let his eye twitch.

"Whoops," Seifer muttered.

The voice giggled again, before breathing softly. "_I'm here to answer your call, Hayner Allen. My name is Aerith Gainsborough. I believe you've met my brother-in-law._.."

I gulped. "Huh?" Wish there was oil for my voicebox whenever it squeaked like that.

"_Cloud Strife, brother to Zack. I was first promised to Zack but then became engaged to Cloud. Zack returned though, we fell in love and so the engagement to Cloud was annulled. Unfortunately Zack and I were shot because of Zack's relations to a gang before we could actually be wed._" Her voice was like crystal in the air, but not cold, very warm actually.

"_Larxene is not aware, but she was only granted by the powers to keep Cloud alive on the boat ride to the America if someone would offer their spirit to Nother Nature_," a giggle, "_That's where I jumped in. Cloud is a good man, he deserved happiness after all the unfortunate series of events he'd gone through and so I vouched for his soul, effectively allowing Larxene access to the powers to help keep him alive._"

I nodded, understanding the balance thing that she was speaking of. Larxene had actually been called in to explain to one of my classes the importance of balance. She was an expert on it now, apparently. She'd been questioned by the council about her experiences and because she'd managed to make everything balance and work out correctly, she hadn't been punished for sort of bending the rules while she was doing it. That she'd been lucky she hadn't gotten stripped of her powers went without saying.

Clearing my throat, I asked quietly, "So, can you call my familiar for me?"

She sighed. "_Isn't witchcraft mysterious and tricky?_" I looked in Seifer's direction, who shrugged, having no idea what she was getting at. Another light chuckle came from her before she explained herself. "_You already have a familiar, Hayner Allen, he's standing right next to you._"

I glanced down at the ground, figuring that it must be some sort of small rodent then and that's why I hadn't noticed when it appeared. "I don't see anything, where is he?" Looking behind me, I finally stood up, hoping to get a better look from a higher angle. Or maybe he was in the trees? I searched the branches above me, slowly getting frustrated as I couldn't _see_ anything. Seifer cleared his throat and when I glanced his way, he gave me a sheepish smile, his hand lifted.

"I think she's talking about me."

"_Exactly right!_" Aerith agreed. "_Seifer Almasy is familiar to Hayner Allen._"

My eyes went wide and I looked at him in astonishment. "You're kidding, right? But he's a human!" Seifer raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and somewhat scolding me for the disbelief in my voice.

"_Some familiars are human, witches, to begin with."_ Aerith explained. "_Seifer is lucky to be a shape shifter as normally a familiar is turned into the shape of an animal and can only return to its human form once his or her duty as a familiar is accomplished."_

"How was I not aware of being his familiar?" Seifer asked.

"_You were, just subconsciously. You found your way to Hayner and stuck by his side, helping him through the first steps of magics and guiding him to the safety of magic school. When Hayner entered the school, everything he had to learn was offered by the teachings of the professors. _This_ is why you and Hayner drifted apart as your familiar duties were put on momentary pause."_

"Wait. Just wait a second." I walked over to stand next to Seifer staring at him as he was the only real person here and I couldn't glare at the voice. "So, he's my familiar. He has to basically follow me around until I'm ready to be on my own? How do I know when I'm ready?"

She laughed loud enough for the leaves on the trees to shake. "_You make him sound like a dog!_" Sobering up, she continued in an amused voice. "_He doesn't have to follow you around, he's just there for you if you need aid. When you feel uncertain, Seifer is the one who will help you remove that uncertainty. He's just someone you can rely on and as he is your familiar, you'll never have to doubt the fact that he only has your best interest at heart. He'll never do anything to put you in harm's way."_

I sat back down on the log, not really sure what to say to that. He'd been my familiar all this time and yet the relief I should have been feeling when introduced to him as my familiar was not there. Chuckling humorlessly, I wondered how many other sorcerers had sex with their familiars.

"Thank you for telling me, Aerith." Might as well show some gratitude for the spirit that was just doing her job.

"_You are most welcome._" She murmured. "_And Seifer, you are still the sorcerer you always were._" She assured before a flow of cold air passed through the trees, informing us she was gone.

'I honestly had no idea...' Seifer thought.

'Yeah, I figured.' Sighing and folding my hands behind my head, I figured I'd better just finish this stupid exam and then worry about this entire episode after. 'I don't really know what to do, Seifer.'

Seifer shrugged, starting to walk off towards the trees. 'Just continue doing things the way you know how, only now know that you can put my number on speed dial in case you need help with anything.'

'Yeah.' It wasn't going to be that easy. At least not for me.

* * *

><p><strong>Seifer - couple of days later<strong>

Well, clearly nothing had gone as I thought it would. I was someone's familiar now. Hayner's. Aside from that, I was also his 'used-to-be friend', 'ex-lover' and now his current instructor for the task tests as well. It was a lot on my mind, but while Hayner seemed to be a having a hard time figuring things out, I was dealing with it all relatively easily and smoothly.

Instead of freaking out, I'd busted out all the books I owned on 'familiars' and read up on it whenever I had a moment to spare so I could find out exactly what I was. Apparently my being a shape shifter should have given me a hint to becoming a familiar as shape shifting was born from the spell a familiar had cursed themselves with, able to turn back into human form during the full moon before shifting back to their familiar form the rest of the month.

She'd had a child with a sorcerer, the first shape shifter, and it sort of took off from there. So yes, I should have known my becoming a familiar was the most logical thing considering my shape shifting ability. But familiars were rare as they weren't often granted. There weren't many wizards such as Hayner and nowadays those were the only types of sorcerers who were granted a familiar. Basically, the word 'rare' was shouted out every single time I read a page on familiars and the situation Hayner and I found ourselves in.

I also found out that I didn't actually have to do anything specific. I didn't need to learn how to be the right familiar for Hayner as _that_ magic had clicked itself automatically into place the first time I'd seen him. It was part of my instincts now and not something I needed to think about. That didn't surprise me as helping him had seemed very normal when we'd had our road trip to Tennessee.

Almost like a reflex. And that thing Aerith had pointed out, the reason we'd drifted apart having been connected to the fact that Hayner hadn't needed my help while the professors were teaching him... It had helped ease my mind very much upon meeting him again two years later.

I knew the fact I hadn't been interested in a serious relationship had played a big role on the loss of contact, but it wasn't just that. There had been moments I hadn't really been able to wrap my head around the idea of 'If I miss him so much, why am I not just talking to him?' that had been a painful thought to try and understand. But now, what with the familiar instincts, it sort of helped make sense to me.

Hayner though...I think this whole revelation had confused him more than anything else. While at first when he'd realized I'd be his instructor he'd seemed okay with it, now he wasn't all that okay since he now carried the extra knowledge of having me as his familiar. The last couple of days had been a lot like how things had gone on after the love spell.

He spoke to me only when really necessary, but otherwise avoided small talk and chit chat whatsoever, closing himself up and away from me. I'd poke, but I knew better than to poke Hayner. I remembered that frown between his eyebrows and I quite honestly didn't feel like messing with it.

That had been my line of thought yesterday. Today though, I was starting to get really fed up with his behavior. I was his familiar and that was that. He was going to be stuck with me and he better deal with it soon because I didn't like the idea of having to be the familiar to someone who didn't want me as their familiar for a long, long, long, long time. If we were going to do this, we were going to 'bloody' communicate.

Poofing my way into the magic school's courtyard, I looked around, frowning as Hayner wasn't here and the place was empty as well. Looking down at my watch, I realized I was a long couple of minutes early, twenty minutes or so... Now, I could do two things. One; stand here and wait for the school bell to ring, letting Hayner out of class so we could continue with the tasks on his list. Or two; Use my familiar status, which effectively allowed me to attend Hayner's classes. Hayner had pointed out they would probably not pull up another desk just so I could sit there and listen to the stuff I'd already learned a year prior, and although that wasn't incorrect... I doubt my familiar status on the 'attending my sorcerers classes' rule, applied to my human form.

So, without further ado... Eyes glazing over, I let myself relax, breathing steadily as I turned into my comfort form, the cat. Not only was it my first go to shift, but it also seemed to be the shape of myself Hayner seemed the most comfortable around and lately that seemed like a good thing to go with. Swishing my tail, I stood from my sitting position and then trotted over to the school's entrance, walking inside.

Thankfully the hallway was empty, because with the amount of people usually in this hallway in between classes, I'd surely get trampled. Or worse, they'd step on the freaking tail. Scanning my thoughts, I remembered what class I had last on Fridays and quickly galloped my way to the classroom where Miss Lorena taught the student sorcerers how to read crystal balls.

The door was closed, but that wasn't exactly a problem because I'd made sure to learn a trick or two over the long years of shifting. Jumping up, I grasped the handle between my front paws, clinging to it and letting my weight pull the handle down. Miss Lorena stopped mid-sentence, staring as I hung from the door while it swung open. Letting go, I landed onto my four feet, nodded respectfully Lorena's way and then scanned the classroom, locating Hayner.

'Seifer?' Hayner thought my way, and I spotted him near the back window and I chuckled as I figured he spent a lot of his time staring out of it instead of paying attention to stuff he probably already figured out.

'Hello, Hayner.' I returned, making my way through the tables to get to him. I hissed when one of the girls let her fingers stroke over my back, twirling around my tail. 'Fucking humans!' I growled through thought, sticking my nose up indignantly before quickly trotting my way over to Hayner.

'A little harsh, considering _you're_ human.' He snickered and bent down to open his arms so he could pick me up as I got closer. 'Is there a reason you're coming to my class today? Not that I mind, but I'm just curious.' Gently picking me up, he settled me in his lap and immediately starting scratching my ears.

Circling around, I settled comfortable, purring as he continued to pet me softly. 'I was early and didn't want to wait outside.' I told him honestly.

'I've missed seeing you as a cute little kitten.' He thought at me, and I glanced up to see him smile down at me. 'Anywhere in particular you want scratched today? If I remember right, under your chin is a good spot.' Reaching his fingers, he started scratching my chin confidently. 'Just try not to rattle the rafters with your purring.'

'Don't think cute too loud, they might hear.' I chuckled through thought, ignoring his warning on purring too loud as I did so anyways when his fingers continued to scratch me under my chin.

"Ah! A familiar. It's been a while since I've had the chance to be around one," Miss Lorena spoke up, "Hayner, would you kindly introduce him to the class? Will he attend many, or is he only delivering a message to you?"

"Er, um. I guess he's just delivering a message. He changes his mind a lot." He said, not really sure and glancing down at me for some clarification.

'Message my ass, I just didn't want to sit beneath a sky that clearly will break out into a rain any second. This classroom is warm is what my message is.' And I did enjoy Hayner's scratching... But that would be uncool to say too loudly.

Holding in his chuckles, Hayner looked at the teacher. "This is Seifer Almasy. He's my familiar and today he's a cat." Smirking evilly, he suddenly picked me up and held me over his desk. "Isn't he the _cutest_?" His voice when higher with the last word and he aimed that at all the girls in the classroom, who immediately did their little cute noises and made googly eyes at me.

'Hayner!' I squirmed in his hold. 'You're ruining my fucking reputation that took years to build, you 'bloody' moron!' Swishing my tail in his face, I dropped back down in his lap when he sneezed.

"Seifer-" Miss Lorena started. "Oh well isn't that a pleasant surprise. You all remember Seifer Almasy from a year back. He was the shape shifter student." Of course she needed to clarify that.

The students all nodded and Hayner went back to petting me, snickering to himself. 'Sorry, I couldn't resist. You really do make a cute cat.'

Settling back into his lap, I started purring even though I really kind of didn't want too. 'Yes well, I don't mind being your cute cat, but I don't want to be anyone else's cute cat.'

Scratching my ears, he sighed. 'You're my familiar. I'm not giving you up.'

'Oh well good, cause I wasn't gonna let you.' I pushed my head into his belly, rubbing up against him and making sure my eyes were big and round so he couldn't scold me for the snarky retort.

He chuckled and surprised me by leaning down and using his face to cuddle me close. His lips brushed across my forehead, and I was pressed against his cheekbone for a moment. Pulling away after only a second, he blushed and quickly looked out the window as his fingers continued scratching. 'Sorry.' Was all he thought, offering no explanation for his sudden display of affection.

This was an interesting turn of events...Now I could either play along with him and ignore the entire thing to keep things comfortable for him, or I could not and poke. Or at the very least acknowledge what just happened and tell him...

'Don't be...' And then before I could stop my body from moving, I managed to climb up without using my claws to settle up onto his shoulder, wrapping myself behind his neck, back paws settled on his right shoulder, forepaws settled on his left, my face pressed right below his jaw all the while purring loudly and closely to his ear.

Hayner used his cheek to rub against my face again, lifting his hand to continue scratching under my chin. It was probably completely cute and adorable looking because the girl in front of Hayner glanced back once, then a second time while whipping out her cell phone and snapping a picture. Hayner growled at her and she gave a surprised 'eek!' and spun back around. But with the way her shoulders were trembling, I had a sneaking suspicion that the picture was now circulating the rest of the student body.

Mentally sighing at me, he thought, 'That's what you get when you act cute, I guess.' Sending me a puzzled feeling, he asked, 'Just out of curiosity, why are you acting all cute and cuddly? Not that I'm complaining at all...'

'Believe it or not, cute and cuddly urges are a lot harder to suppress in cat form. Instinct took over. Not that I'm not enjoying this, I just might have been more cautious as a human.' I snickered through thought. 'Imagine me climbing up on you like this as a real live boy!'

'Now that would be interesting...' He thought, probably forgetting that he was projecting, and before he could stop himself, I glimpsed a rather quick image of us naked...The teacher dismissed the class and Hayner snapped to attention. 'Okay. Do you want a ride to the courtyard, or would you prefer to walk?' He asked snarkily as he gathered up his books.

I'd store that little bit of naked info away for later use. 'I'll get trampled.' I whined. 'Or they'll step on my tail...' Not like I could change now anyways, I could snap my fingers fast, but I didn't want his entire class to see me naked, even if it were for just one tiny split second. And of course, in human form? Hayner would definitely not hold onto me like he was doing right now. I wanted to make the most out of it before returning to 'slightly awkward'.

"Oh, poor kitty!" He pouted out sarcastically, and we heard the nearby girls twitter while he held onto me as he stood up. 'I'll protect you, O fearsome familiar.' Still holding onto me as he quickly navigated the crowded hallways, he ducked down an abandoned corridor to take a short cut to the courtyard that we usually met in. 'Today is my last test, isn't it? I have to summon an elemental.'

He was mocking me, the prat. Human feet were suddenly a lot bigger when you were cat sized.

'Yes, that's the last test.' And then to make sure he understood my clingy presence today, 'After that we're talking of what's going on between us. Don't say nothing 'cause that would be lying.' There, I was taking a stand and being somewhat pushy. Not that I liked being pushy, preferring the 'I don't give a damn' air better, but clearly that demeanor had not worked in my favor at all considering previous events and so being pushy is what I would be to set things straight. I was _not_ going to drift apart from Hayner again.

Turning a corner down another empty corridor, I saw the door that would take us outside. 'I did it again, didn't I? Just like before...' Slowing his steps, he finally released his hold on me, going back to scratching my face and using his cheek to cuddle against me once more, causing my purr to heighten. 'Sorry. And yeah, we can talk.' Pushing the door open, he breathed in the fresh air and took a few steps off to the side. He crouched so I would have an easier time getting down.

Jumping down, I stretched out, pushing my ass up in the air, tail twirling as I let my claws grind over the stone ground before straightening back up onto my four feet, shaking my head. 'Cat or human?' I asked, willing to stay in this form if it helped make him more comfortable around me. I suppose that could be viewed as strange, but if I had the ability, I don't see why I wouldn't use it. I was still myself, cat or human, and he wasn't cheating or chickening out by talking to me in cat form in my mind.

'Hmm...Well, I was gonna call a water elemental, or try to. You like the water, right?' He winked and laughed. 'As long as you don't mind, you can stay a cat for now.'

'If you splash me I'll turn into a bigger kitty.' Oh god! Why hadn't I turned into a tiger during the Leon vs Seifer chase? I would have loved to see the reaction on that cowboy's face there. 'Alright. Summon and talk.'

'Okay.' He glanced around and spotted a bench that was next to one of the school's fountains. 'Come on, I figure being close to some real water will limit the splashing that they'll have to do.' Walking over, he sat down and waited for me to jump up and sit next to him; not too close. I didn't want to get splashed. 'Just a heads up, I'm going to summon an undine. A small one. That still counts, right? Or do I need to summon Leviathan?'

'Yes,' I moved away some more, the idea of water toying with the cat instincts. 'that counts.'

'Sweet. Cause I'm feeling a little lazy today.' Turning towards the water and extending his right hand, he closed his eyes and started murmuring the summoning spell. Most sorcerers used diagrams and needed to read from a book, but Hayner was able to trace the diagrams in the air, and quote from memory. Another aspect of his ability. There was a small flash of bluish light, followed by a splash and Hayner opened his eyes and grinned.

"Hello, little one. I thank you for answering my call. Please accept this as a token of my gratitude." The small human shaped sprite blinked up at him, giving a noise of happiness as he handed it a dried piece of fruit that he took from his pocket. Otherworldly beings usually enjoyed food or small treats for answering the call of a sorcerer.

Starting to dance with the small piece of fruit in its hands, every step it took, a splash of water bounced off it, flying up into the air and leaving a wet trail behind the little creature jumping around. Much like with how I'd turned into a porcupine in reflex to Leon's lunging hand, the moment a drop of water landed on top of my cat nose, I barely had time to register I was turning.

Only when I found myself standing four legged behind the bench, roaring at the tiny creature with a huge tiger jaw, basically informing it to 'leave me alone!' did I realize I had in fact turned. I shut my big tiger trap, sitting down instantly and sending Hayner an apologetic look, who'd practically scooted off the bench in surprise at my sudden reflexive turn.

The small undine squealed in high pitched surprise and with an angry chattering at me, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Hayner snapped his eyes back to where the small creature had vanished and then turned towards me, shaking his head. "Seifer. Really? I hope that counts as passing, because I don't think it's going to come back."

'I warned you of the consequences were I to be splashed with water.' I reasoned. 'And yes, you summoned it, so you passed.' Purring, because yes, tigers purred as well, I shuffled my big kitty butt closer to the bench, resting my head close to his leg, sending him big pleading eyes in apology. Rolling his eyes, he hesitantly put his hand out and stroked the top of my head.

"You are forgiven, you big kitten." He said out loud. "So, I'm a sorcerer now? After my final exams, I mean."

'Yes.' I told him confidently. 'Now talk to-' People entered the secluded place we found ourselves in and I stood up partly on the bench with my forepaws, looking up and over Hayner's head to glare at them. They froze as their eyes landed on big tiger me and of course that was a very satisfactory reaction, but not enough.

Baring my teeth, I roared at them, leading the young wizards in training to squawk in fright, scurrying back off where they came from. Snickering, I lowered back down to the ground. 'I love the power...' Nudging my head into Hayner's side roughly, I then plopped back down into a sitting position, tilting my head so I could look at him. 'Will you now tell me what's going on with you concerning our situation?'

'I like you. Still. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've been obsessed with you since the first time I laid my eyes on you. I don't understand why we drifted apart. It was just so strange.' Looking down at me, his eyes were a little bit sad. 'Maybe I pushed too hard that first night together. Or we just went too fast. But either way, I've always been pretty hung up on you.'

Shuffling closer, I rested my head onto his lap, letting out a heavy sigh. 'I think it was a mixture of everything. Although you certainly didn't push me, things did go very fast... I had that fear of getting into a serious relationship and from what I caught from your thoughts that night, you weren't looking for a serious relationship either. Yet... could we have been casual lovers?'

Licking my canines first, I then pushed my head closer against his stomach. 'I couldn't have. I liked you, still do, very much and while I knew being your casual lover wasn't a possibility for me, neither did I manage to wrap my head around the idea of being with you in a serious relationship.'

'So, what should we do now? When I found out you were my familiar, it just brought back so many memories of us together. It's not like I try and suppress them, but it's hard to carry on a normal conversation with you when I keep thinking about kissing you.' His hand was still petting me, and now he was staring off at the space above my head.

'Personally,' Shaking my head, I pulled back and when he turned around to look at me, I just nudged him to look back out in front of him before turning back to my regular human self. Snapping my fingers, I was now dressed and decent and came to sit next to him on the bench. "I did not like being apart from you all this time, and I don't just mean the drifting apart friendship wise. I never felt the way I did with you that night with anyone else. That sounds so incredibly mushy, but it's the 'bloody' truth."

Smirking as he glanced sideways at me, he said, "I was so mad at you." He shook his head to silence any protest. "You basically ruined me for every other guy out there. And that's my 'bloody' truth." Reaching his hand out, he rested it on my leg for a moment, before pulling back.

I grinned, my heart swelling at hearing him say I was his best ever. "I'm that good, huh?" When he raised an eyebrow at my arrogance, I raised one back. "Better that than have me track down every dude you've been with in the last two years to rip their throat outs, because believe me, the urge is not lacking." Jealousy ahoy.

"Easy killer. I'm not with anyone but you, so relax." He closed his eyes, and tilted his head back, smiling up at the cloud covered sky. 'I wonder if he'd let me kiss him...' Came the quiet thought, so faint I wondered if I'd really heard it.

Not thinking about it, I grasped his chin between my fingers, guiding his head down and sideways, not allowing him a second of thought as I simply leaned in and pressed my lips against his. 'That's the stuff...' Was the first thought that rushed through me as his soft lips connected to mine. Cupping his face, I hummed appreciatively against his mouth. 'I've missed you...'

Reaching his hand up, he grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me roughly against him as he tilted his head to the side and deepened the kiss. 'Every time I saw you in the hallways at school, or in the cafeteria, I wanted to jump you. I finally had to stop looking.' His voice echoed through my brain, and I felt him smirk against my lips before his tongue was pushing against my mouth, asking to enter.

Granting him access, I parted them, pushing my tongue against his while my arm snaked around his waist, pulling him flush up against me, which then led me to moan. 'See, that's why you're the smart one. I kept on looking, torturing myself every single time... Afraid I might forget what you looked like if I didn't catch a glimpse of you every day.'

Grasping his cheek gently, I stopped the feverish kiss for a moment, allowing myself to catch my breath, panting harshly against his mouth as I stared into his chocolate colored eyes for a moment. Pecking his lips softly once, twice, three times, I tried slowing the speed of my racing heart, but I guess that was futile, so I decided to keep on going, continuing with fierce lip lock.

'I was going to have to hurt you if you stopped, but I'm thinking you should poof us to your bed before we get an audience that we can't scare off by roaring at them.' His hand was in my hair running his fingers through it while he sucked my bottom lip to nibble on between his teeth. As my other hand dropped to squeeze his leg, he let out a low moan that was music to my ears.

'Okay...' I agreed easily, concentrating on visualizing my apartment located in the magic realm itself. I had another apartment in New York, but- Oh hell, like it mattered how many apartments I had. Certainly not something to focus on right now. There was a moment where I felt like air, Hayner in my arms, and then we landed on my bed, the same one I'd summoned into the train that had brought us to Nashville. Taking the liberty, I snapped my fingers twice in a row, both of us now completely naked.

"God, I love that trick..." I moaned, letting my eyes scan over his naked figure, gently pushing him back onto my bed so I could hover over him, my lips attaching to his neck.

'Wow. You'll have to show me how to do that.' He chuckled and spread his legs so that I was instantly pressing our groins together as his fingers clutched my back. He hooked his ankles around me, moaning as he used them to increase the friction on both of our dicks.

"You simply," Sucking onto his skin to mark him with a beautiful hickey, I continued my sentence through thought. 'Reverse the clothing summon.' Leaning onto my right elbow, I stuck my left hand out, using telekinesis to get the lube bottle flying out of the night stand drawer, landing into my palm. 'You want foreplay, babe?' Moaning against his skin, I rocked my hips into his rhythmically, not going all that fast as I was simply drowning in bliss at the sensation of Hayner lying underneath me, his warm skin pressed against mine, arms and legs surrounding me.

'Kissing counts, right? Cause I'm thinking that you should just fuck me and we'll snuggle later.' Pulling my face back to his lips, he kissed me, tonguing me expertly and moaning as I felt him get even harder against me. 'Can't really think. Hurry...'

'Yes, hurry.' I agreed with him, opening the lube bottle and sitting up so I could squirt some onto my fingers. Stroking his stomach lovingly, I leaned forward to place numerous kisses on his chest, all the while inserting one finger slowl-

I blink in surprise as Hayner was suddenly moaning loudly beneath me, my dick straining really fucking painfully and because... well, something clearly didn't make sense. Shaking my head and detaching my lips from around his nipple, which, they hadn't been there just a second ago, I sat up and tilted my head curiously down at the fact that instead of one finger, three were now buried inside of him.

"Hayner..." I wiggled my fingers, leading him to groan in pleasure. Yep, he was stretched alright. "You wanna tell me how you manipulate time?"

"Oh god, Seifer!" He panted and clenched around my fingers. "It's just about wanting it really fucking bad. And you can sort of tweak the time travel spell that takes us to the past...right there...and you can jump just a few minutes into the future." He was moving harder against my fingers, clearly enjoying himself, then he winked at me. "I'm all ready for you. Come on, put it in."

I chuckled, letting my fingers slip out of him. "My very own genius." I declared all the while slicking up my cock with a generous amount of lube. "And 'it'? You make it sound like an alien." Leaning over him, I guided the tip of my dick to his entrance, letting my lips rest against his mouth as I started pushing steadily inside of him, his fingers grasping my butt cheeks. 'Oh god, babe, you're so fucking tight...' I moaned loudly after that thought, my body trembling as I restrained myself from just ramming into him all the way.

'Don't hold back, Seifer. Been waiting two years to feel you inside me again. And I better be tight. It's been awhile.' A moan ripped out of him as I finally settled all the way inside, and he turned his mouth away to kiss along my jaw and cheek before moving down my neck. Sinking his teeth lightly into my shoulder, he nodded his head. 'Okay. Move please.'

If he allowed me to move... I wasn't going to go slow. This was fucking him into oblivion time, not making sweet love. Not that I had anything against the latter, but two fucking years... Sitting up, I slipped my hands under his ass, lifting his hips up and off the bed, settling him onto my lap as I knelt.

"Grasp the headboard." Okay, that might have sounded a tad authoritative. I was about to ask him more nicely, but his arms moved back and over his head, fingers clutching the edge of the headboard. 'Shit, you look gorgeous...' I was practically drooling over him for the way he was spread out before me.

Kneading the skin on his butt firmly, I pulled out of him and then instantly pushed back in, not taking another moment to pause as I repeated that same motion over, and over, and over... "Fuck yeah!" I groaned out, grabbing one of his legs for support, lifting it so I could place a random kiss against the side of his knee.

'Harder, come on, I can take it harder!' No longer even trying to use his real voice, Hayner was moaning loudly, every once in a while shouting my name as I rammed into his prostate. Knuckles white as they gripped the wood of the headboard tightly, his eyes were closed in bliss and his body was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

Letting his ankle rest on my shoulder, I kept my mouth pressed against his leg, panting against it while letting my now free hand slip up and down over his stomach before wrapping my fingers around his straining and leaking cock. Squeezing it, I smirked against his skin at the loud moan I got in response for that action, continuing to slam my way into him repeatedly, harder now as he'd asked me too.

'Amazing, you feel fucking amazing...' I managed to send his way, my vocal chords much too busy moaning, groaning and cussing at the moment. Working my hand on his length, I felt his ass clench around my dick teasingly once and then twice. 'Do that one more time and this isn't going to last.' I warned.

'Can't help it...' And he clenched once more and he released, his whole body tensing for a moment before turning to liquid, his arms falling from the headboard even as I continued pounding. Leaning back over him so I could kiss him, needing to kiss him while I-

'Fuckedy fuck, fuck, fuuuck!' Holding him close, the orgasm pulled out of me harshly, wonderfully, body stiff and then trembling, my lips still pressed against his as I panted into his mouth.

'Oh god...please don't pull out yet...just a few more minutes...please.' His breath was slowly starting to return to normal, but his hands still held me against him and his legs were still wrapped around me and holding me inside of him. 'Bloody hell. That was the best...' Giving my lips short pecks as I was still trying to catch my breath, Hayner slowly trailed his fingernails on my back, sending shivers up my spine. I was grateful for the mind to mind communication as actual speaking seemed to be beyond our ability at this point.

Gulping and somewhat gasping, I nodded my head, reaching up with one hand to push the sweaty hair out of his face. 'Definitely the best...' I agreed, returning his pecks somewhat sloppily, leading me to chuckle as our teeth actually managed to knock together at some point. 'I'm neither leaving nor letting you go this time, I'll have you know.' I kissed him softly now.

'Psh…It's not like you're allowed to leave. You're my familiar. You stay until I don't need you anymore…and that will never happen now.' Returning my soft kisses with his own, he sighed and finally let his legs drop, groaning as that caused my dick to slip out of him.

'Hold on.' He frowned, but did so anyway, and once I was sure to have a tight grip on him, I poofed us into my bathroom and straight into the warm with water filled tub. Sighing contently at the warm water, I smiled at Hayner.

"Used telekinesis to make the water start running around the same time I slipped my fingers out of you," Yes, I was very proud.

"I love being a sorcerer," he said with a laugh and splashed me in the face with the warm water, chuckling when I snorted and splashed him back.

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><p><strong>AN: Aaaaaaaaand that's the end folks. *salutes* Hope you enjoyed it, and we'll see you all later. Not sure when we'll be posting another story, but hang tight kiddo's:D**


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